BlackBerry will stop manufacturing its smartphone Classic

The BlackBerry will stop manufacturing its smartphone Classic, less than two years after being launched with great fanfare.

According to the Chief Operating Officer and Chief devices, Ralph Pini, the Classic has long past the average life expectancy for a smart phone on the market today.

The decision to abandon this model will allow the company to offer something better to its customers, said Mr Pini, since BlackBerry will now focus on updating its range of smartphones.

The BlackBerry Classic was launched in December 2014. Its screen has a diagonal of 3.5 inches, a size greater than 60% than the previous BlackBerry Bold 9900, while its autonomy is longer. It also has a standard keyboard and a touch screen.

Some observers believe that BlackBerry should stop making cell phones to focus on its software business, but the CEO, John Chen, recently reiterated that he wanted to stay on the market for appliances.

In its most recent quarterly results, the company said it sold about 500,000 smartphones, about 100,000 less than the previous quarter.

Still, Mr. Chen believes that mobile phones activities can still be profitable for the current fiscal year, ending in February.

BlackBerry is expected to launch two new midrange appliances, running the Android operating system from Google, by the end of February. The manufacturer is expected to unveil more details about these phones by July.

The company will continue to support its BlackBerry 10 operating system with software updates. The most recent of these updates is expected in August, said Mr Pini.