BlackBerry To Expand Its Hardware Selection, Countdown To Comeback Commences

Even though it used to rule the roost with another giant in Nokia as the top smartphone companies in the world, BlackBerry had been in a sharp decline. Thanks to some massive cutbacks and reorganizing priorities with a huge focus on software, the Canadian firm has finally staunched the bleeding. Based on its plans to actually release more hardware products, BlackBerry might just be making a comeback.

As Engadget notes, BlackBerry just gave everyone cause to shut up recently by posting quarterly revenue that exceeded analyst expectations. For a moment, the company that became a joke regained some of its former splendor. BlackBerry isn’t done yet, however, as the company is intent on licensing its name to other items that could potentially include tablets and wearables.

Details about the company’s most recent earnings call posted on Seeking Alpha shows CEO Charlie Chen explaining the firm’s short-term goals. BlackBerry had already licensed Chinese manufacturer TCL to create its handsets. Now, Chen wants to give other makers of electronics the opportunity to use the BlackBerry name to sell their products.

“We are now expanding to the next phase of our licensing program,” Chen said. “This will focus on a broader set of endpoints. What this might mean, and I make no promise, is that you may soon see a BlackBerry tablet, and it will also extend to cobranded handset with IoT and Enterprise of Things to EoT devices. These endpoints will run our software and security features and be cobranded Secure by BlackBerry."

In the case of tablets, this won’t be the company’s first foray into the medium-sized smart device scene, The International Business Times reports. BlackBerry tried to woo customers with its flawed PlayBook a few years ago, which failed spectacularly. Considering how CEO Thorsten Heins said that tablets would be irrelevant by now, it’s not hard to see why the company’s own offering sputtered and died.