It appears BlackBerry phones may become a thing of the past. The reason for this is TCL Communications, the company that has the contract to manufacture and sell the BlackBerry phones says the contract is valid only till August 31, 2020. The company will stop selling BlackBerry branded phones post this date though it says it will support the devices sold till that date. TCL has been holding this licence covering practically the entire world. There are very few pockets where other companies hold the rights, but they are really not up to much in terms of making and selling the phone.

The licence allowed TCL to design and manufacture the phones and sell under the BlackBerry brand. This ensured the brand stayed alive in the marketplace and kept the brand name in the minds and hearts of the user community. That may not happen now, unless between now and August, BlackBerry finds another manufacturer willing to take on the task from TCL. It has been reported that TCL has developed its own brand and will focus on that after it stops making and selling the Blackberry devices.

Experts say TCL had done a decent job of making Android-run smartphones with attractive designs and trying to keep the original Blackberry flavour alive. None of these phones may have turned out to be runaway successes as a model in the highly competitive field, but they were not abject failures either.

Indonesia India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh are the markets excluded from the contract TCL had for the BlackBerry brand.