Among potential buyout bids and layoff news, it appears BlackBerry will give the consumer market one last go before officially bowing out. Opposite the company’s recently announced Z30 phablet, BlackBerry also has two lower-end devices aimed squarely at emerging markets. Fittingly, coming full circle from earlier this year, one device is full touch (like the Z10), while the other sports a tried and true physical keyboard (like the Q10)—a trademark we may never see again under the BlackBerry brand.
First up is the keyboard-equipped model, codenamed Kopi, which will apparently cost even less than BlackBerry’s entry-level Q5 despite sporting slightly better specs; the device itself won’t have LTE, but it will have the ability to swap out batteries, which is no longer a typical feature in today’s smartphone market.
Additionally, the Waterloo company also has a full-touch C-series device in the works, codenamed Americano, which is essentially the exact opposite of BlackBerry’s recently announced Z30. Aside from weaker specs and much lower price, the device will allegedly sport a 4.2-inch 720p display; no other specs are known at this time.
BlackBerry has been falling apart at the seams before our very eyes, and the prospect of these two devices, along with the Z30, will likely have little affect on any future affairs. To that end, with BlackBerry accepting a $4.7 billion buyout bid, it’s unclear if the Kopi and Americano handsets will even hit the market—or if people will even care at this point. Over the weekend, BlackBerry certainly didn’t do itself any favors by delaying the release of BBM on iOS and Android, but it appears the sideshow could be over soon if this buyout goes through.
