Bye Bye BlackBerry 10: Company announces plans to pull the plug on its own operating system to concentrate on Android devices.

After having been predicted for some time, the death of the BlackBerry 10 has now arrived. The company has announced it will no longer make phones featuring its own operating system. Instead it will now concentrate on establishing itself as a major Android device manufacturer, with an eye on business rather than consumer hand. This move will not come as a surprise to many. BlackBerry boss and chairman John Chen has spoken about it in the past, mentioning on several occasions that he may be forced to exit the handset business if it doesn’t make the company any money.

Speaking to the National last week, Mr Chen said the company will now be focusing on its Android phones with the goal of producing ‘most secure Android smartphone for the enterprise.’ He said that two more software updates for BlackBerry 10 devices are due, this year and next year, then the company will reassess the situation based on the level of security of its Android software. ‘If we can make Android phone as secure as Blackberry 10, which will be difficult, but if we can make it then the two lines will merge,’ Mr Chen said. ‘If it doesn’t, then I have to look for an answer to the customer.’ Instead, its next round of hardware releases could well be mid-range Android phones. ‘The fact that we came out with a high-end phone [as our first Android device] was probably not as wise as it should have been,’ he said.

The recent withdrawal of major app support, including Facebook and WhatsApp, was also a major blow to the company.

Last month Facebook confirmed it is to drop support for all BlackBerry handsets. Blackberry said the social media giant will discontinue essential software updates for its platform, including BlackBerry 10 and BBOS, by the end of 2016. It followed in the wake of Facebook-owned messaging app, WhatsApp’s plans to phase out support for a range of older operating platforms, including BlackBerry, by the end of the year.