Blackberry will discontinue service for its classic devices on Jan. 4, the company reminded users in a statement.
Posted on Dec. 22, Blackberry reminded its users of the impending shutdown of legacy services for the phone.
“As a reminder, the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, will no longer be available after January 4, 2022,” the statement reads.
The shutdown means that the phones will no longer reliably function for “data, phone calls, SMS and 9-1-1 functionality,” according to the company.
The original announcement that Blackberry, which has transitioned away from phones to a software company that focuses on providing “intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments,” would be discontinuing its phone service was made in September of 2020.
Blackberry phones were once a status symbol among celebrities and CEOs alike and permeated many facets of pop culture. The brand peaked in 2012, but as technology moved away from the external keyboard of the Blackberry and toward the full screen of the smartphone, so too did pop culture.
