{"id":75043,"date":"2014-12-18T08:08:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T08:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=75043"},"modified":"2014-12-18T08:08:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T08:08:36","slug":"new-blackberry-back-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=75043","title":{"rendered":"New Blackberry ‘back to its roots’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blackberry has launched what it calls a “no-nonsense” smartphone, the Blackberry Classic.<\/p>\n

The device has a full “Qwerty” keyboard, resembling the design which made Blackberry a market leader before it was overtaken by competitors.<\/p>\n

Analysts said the firm was going “back to its roots” in order to appeal to business customers.<\/p>\n

But some warned that while this tactic would help retain business, it might not attract new users.<\/p>\n

“This is more about avoiding more people leaving than necessarily winning many over,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Kantar Worldpanel.<\/p>\n

“I have a hard time thinking that people who grew up on touch[screens] will see this as an exciting ‘retro’ trend and embrace it.”<\/p>\n

Challenging year<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Classic has an eight-megapixel camera on its reverse and, as well as the physical keyboard, the device can be controlled via its 3.5-inch touchscreen.<\/p>\n

Blackberry has had a challenging year, albeit one showing at least some positive signs for the company formerly known as Research in Motion.<\/p>\n

News in March of annual losses of $5.9bn (\u00a33.5bn) highlighted the company’s slip from being a major smartphone player.<\/p>\n

However, after significant cost-cutting, and with higher profit margins, the company was able to overcome a drop in revenues to post a profit of $23m (\u00a314m) for the three months to the end of March 2014.<\/p>\n

More recently, the company impressed technology enthusiasts with the Blackberry Passport, a distinctive smartphone which, like the Classic, made use of a physical keyboard.<\/p>\n

\"Blackberry<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Blackberry Passport’s distinctive design proved popular<\/div>\n

“Knowing your strengths and recognising your weaknesses could be Blackberry’s way back from the brink,” said Rob Kerr, mobiles expert at Uswitch.com.<\/p>\n

“Like its Passport phone, the mobile maker has gone back to its roots with the Classic – furnishing it with the physical keyboard that so many appreciate in the touchscreen era.<\/p>\n

“Keyboard phones were always its strong point and this true return to form hails back to Blackberry’s glory days.<\/p>\n

“Although this handset is unlikely to capture the once strong youth market, businesses might once again come back to the fold.”<\/p>\n

Blackberry’s executive chairman, John Chen, said the Classic was built after gathering feedback from “dedicated” users.<\/p>\n

He added: “By bringing back the trusted functionalities, incorporating our latest operating system and building a speedier browser, our users can feel confident they are using the best communications tool out there.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blackberry has launched what it calls a “no-nonsense” smartphone, the Blackberry Classic. The device has a full “Qwerty” keyboard, resembling the design which made Blackberry a market leader before it was overtaken by competitors. Analysts said the firm was going “back to its roots” in order to appeal to business customers. But some warned that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":75044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-75043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}