BlackBerry Ends Support for Priv, Talks About the Future of BB10
BlackBerry on Friday said that it will end monthly security updates for its Android-powered handset Priv and outlined the future of BB10.
A little more than a year ago BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO, John Chen, declared that BlackBerry's transition to a software company was complete.
In September, the Canadian company confirmed that the Priv would not update beyond Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
"Having now stepped outside the original two-year window, we will no longer be delivering monthly updates for the PRIV moving forward," wrote Alex Thurber, SVP and GM of BlackBerry's mobility division, in a Friday blog post.
"..we are working with our partners at BlackBerry Mobile to offer a trade-up program that will provide you with a significant discount and incentive to upgrade your current BlackBerry device to a new BlackBerry KeyOne or Motion, both of which are the world's most secure Android smartphones," he added.
BlackBerry manufactured itd last BB10 and BBOS devices in 2015. The company said it would continuie support for BB10 and BBOS users for at least another two years, but the company will be closing some ancillary services such as the BlackBerry World app store (12/31/2019), the BlackBerry Travel site (February 2018), and the Playbook video calling service (March 2018). Blackberry's customers who upgrade to a new KeyOne or Motion will have immediate access to the apps in the Google Play store.