A series of BlackBerry services, including its app store, will be taken offline over the next two years.
BlackBerry said last week in a blog post that its BlackBerry World app store will be shut down at the end of 2019.
Additionally, the BlackBerry Travel site will go dark next February, and the Playbook video calling service will be discontinued next March.
The company says all KeyOne and Motion phones will continue to be supported past 2019, with access to apps through the Google Play store. People who have other BlackBerry devices will be offered “a significant discount and incentive” to upgrade to either the KeyOne or the Motion.
BlackBerry has committed to supporting BlackBerry 10 devices until at least the end of 2019 and keeping the BlackBerry network for older devices up for the same amount of time.
Over the past few years, CEO John Chen has led BlackBerry away from phone manufacturing and into a sole focus on software.
In its second fiscal quarter, which ended Aug. 31, the company reported a record revenue for software and services of $185 million.
Shareholders appear to have come around on the transition, as its TSX stock price – which rarely topped $10 in 2016 and early 2017 – has been trading in the $13-14 range in recent months.
