The BlackBerry phone, whose tactile keyboard once made it the ultimate business gadget no self-respecting chief executive could be without, has been consigned to history by its maker.
Devotees - from the fictional Martin Lukes to the ultimate power user President Obama - have assumed the “prayer position” and risked thumb strains to bang out emails on its coveted keyboard over the years, but on Wednesday, its Canadian maker finally hung up on its hardware division, after failing to rekindle the wild success of its early days.
Although phones with a BlackBerry badge will continue to be sold in markets like Indonesia, and possibly China and India, they will not be made or designed by the company that bears its name.