Blackberry announces Blackberry Priv – The Venice slider is a Passport with a focus on Privacy

“Today, I am confirming our plans to launch Priv, an Android device named after BlackBerry's heritage and core mission of protecting our customers' privacy. Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform."

Blackberry CEO John Chen during an Earning Report for the Third Quarter of 2015 where the Blackberry Priv was confirmed on Thursday September 24^th 2015

Blackberry has finally caved in to pressure from Android. Folks, I knew this day was coming but it’s still with a sad and heavy heart that I write this article: Blackberry has now officially crossed over to the Dark Side

This as Blackberry, on Thursday September 24^th 2015 has decided to launch an Android powered Blackberry dubbed the Blackberry Priv this Christmas 2015 as reported in the article “Embracing Android, BlackBerry may finally put its BB10 software out of its misery”, published September 25, 2015 by Roger Cheng, CNET News. 

The Announcement was made in their latest Earning Report and Press Release for the Third Quarter of 2015 which hints at the Blackberry Priv coming out in the Fourth Quarter of 2015 as reported in the article “It’s official: Blackberry’s Android phone—the “Priv”—will launch this year”, published September 25, 2015 by Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica. 

Apparently, despite their best efforts, the US$275 Blackberry Leap just wasn't selling as it should despite its many work-centric features that was aimed at wooing away Android converts as I'd explained in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “US$275 Blackberry Leap is a Leap of Faith back into Corporate and Enterprise Arena”.

Ditto too the US$649.99 Blackberry Passport and US$419.99 Blackberry Classic, neither of which caught on with the physical Keyboard nostalgia loving hipsters as reported in my blog article entitled “US$649.99 Blackberry Passport and US$419.99 Blackberry Classic - Why Americans are ready to fall in love with Blackberry”. 

So why Android instead of say, Microsoft Windows Phone, which has enjoyed great support from Microsoft and has a suite of Microsoft Apps such as Microsoft Lens as declared in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “Microsoft Office Lens OCR Scanner converts images to Microsoft Office Documents”.

Blackberry Priv – The Blackberry Venice is a slider with a Passport

In case you're not been following my blog, Blackberry has basically confirmed the existence of the long rumoured Blackberry that runs Android codenamed Venice as I'd detailed in my blog article entitled “@evleaks says Blackberry Venice running Android is coming - Why a switch to Google Android will not improve Blackberry Sales”.

The specs for the soon-to-be-released-for-Christmas Blackberry Venice, now called the Priv as pointed out in “Android-powered BlackBerry Venice appears to have a new name”, published September 24, 2015 by Trevor Mogg, DigitalTrends are very similar to what was proclaimed previously:

1.      Screen: 5.4 or 5.6 inch

2.      Resolution: 1440p display

3.      Processor: Snapdragon 808 processor

4.      RAM: 3GB of RAM

5.      Internal Storage: 32GB of storage,

6.      Rear-Facing Camera: 18MP rear camera

7.      Front-Facing Camera: 5MP front camera

Please note, Blackberry provided no details on the actual specs, pricing or even the launch date in the Fourth Quarter of 2015. But it’s easy to guess that the Blackberry Priv, which looks like an elongated Blackberry Classic with a slider aesthetic and a keyboard taken from the Blackberry Passport, will be coming out in November 2015.

Blackberry and BB10 – Security and Privacy for Corporate and Enterprise is still a focus

Blackberry is late to the game and will be joining other OEM (Original Equiptment Manufacturers) in a crowded field that also the source of fragmentation and security vulnerabilities as pointed out in my Geezam blog article entitled “Why Android Fragmentation Worsens as Apple iOS 8 adoption almost complete”.

Blackberry is calling their android-flavoured smartphone the Priv to differentiate their product as having a focus on Security and Privacy for Corporate and Enterprise users as suggested in the article “BlackBerry Is Finally Releasing a Android Phone, The Privacy and Productivity-Focused Priv”, published September 25, 2015 By Brian Heater, TechTimes. 

From all accounts, Blackberry is still keeping their BlackBerry’s BB10 as this move is really to gain some traction in sales by adoption the Open Source Android OS as noted in the article “BlackBerry to Launch Android Smartphone”, published Sept. 25, 2015 by Ben Dummett, The Wall Street Journal.  

At the same time, they still plan to keep their BB10 OS developement going, meaning that possibly more smartphones running that operating system are still in the works.

This as there is a marked trend away from smartphones to wearables and security, uniqueness and the ability to pair with any smartphone will make your smartwatch or fitness tracker successful as argued in my blog article entitled “Android Wear comes to Apple iOS – How Motorola, LG, Asus and Huawei smartwatches are hot this Christmas 2015”. 

Hopefully, while benefitting from Android 1.6 million Apps in their Google Play Store, they'll also keep developing and pushing BB10 OS as Microsoft is currently pushing Windows Phone and may launch new devices come November 2015. 

Here’s the link:

Earning Report and Press Release for the Third Quarter of 2015