Did you find the design of the BlackBerry Passport to be weird and unconventional? If yes, then you’ll probably want to know that BlackBerry plans on launching such an unconventional device at least once a year.
Ron Louks, who heads BlackBerry’s devices arm, confirmed that, thanks to the company paring down losses, BlackBerry can afford to take some risks by releasing an unconventional device each year. “When it comes to design and being a little disruptive, we want that ‘wow’ factor,” said Louks to Financial Post. “Not all of the products will have it, but we definitely have opportunities.”
Such an opportunity is already in the works, which Louks said already received positive feedback from carriers. We could see that device during 2015’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, as BlackBerry CEO John Chen told the same outlet that the company is likely to show off new devices.
“Given the receptivity for the Passport, I know that we’ll have at least another generation of that device,” said Chen. “I also carry very high hopes for the Classic, and I’ve spoken with a lot of people that want it … so I think we will have another iteration on that, and there will be a new concept device, too.”
The receptivity for the Passport refers to the 200,000 Passport units sold in its first 48 hours of availability. Relatively speaking, this might not seem like a runaway success, but the numbers have apparently convinced BlackBerry that creating weird smartphones can help maintain its relevancy in a market where differentiation isn’t a word that’s often thrown around.
