Many older BlackBerry device models will stop working on Tuesday

Many BlackBerry smartphone models will stop working on Tuesday when the company cancels several of its services.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company will disable its services for BlackBerry 7.1 operating system models and all earlier versions. The same is the case with BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions.

This new step is part of BlackBerry’s transition from phone production to software development.

The closure will not affect BlackBerry devices running Android operating systems.

In fact, the announcement means that all devices still using BlackBerry software and services for cellular or Wi-Fi connections will no longer have access to reliable features for phone calls, data, text messaging, or even emergency 911 service.

BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion, was founded by Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin in 1984. Its first devices marketed under the BlackBerry brand date back to the 1990s with pagers capable of receiving email. It subsequently held an important place at the beginning of the era of smart devices.

Its users loved its keyboard, which made it easy to compose long messages. BlackBerry Messenger system communications were also popular because users could communicate securely by sharing a unique identification code.

BlackBerry devices have enjoyed immense popularity, with celebrities such as former US President Barack Obama and reality TV star Kim Kardashian among their followers.

However, many users made the leap into the field of Apple with the appearance of the iPhone models, while others succumbed to the wide range of devices that run on the Android system. BlackBerry then experienced a dizzying crash.

The company eventually began to prioritize the development of security software and services, in particular by developing the commercial QNX system, designed for the automotive industry, but licensed to phone manufacturers.