(CNN) 您很快将无法使用位于抽屉底部某处的那部旧黑莓手机。
从 1 月 4 日星期二开始，该公司将停止为其运行 BlackBerry 10、7.1 OS 及更早版本的经典设备提供支持。这意味着所有未运行 Android 软件的旧设备将不再能够使用数据、发送短信、访问互联网或拨打电话，甚至无法拨打 911。
虽然大多数移动用户已经不再使用黑莓——其于 2013 年推出的最新操作系统版本——但停止支持其手机的举动代表了曾经被认为是前沿技术的终结。
该公司最初于 2020 年 9 月宣布了这一消息，这是其致力于以 BlackBerry Limited 的名义向全球企业和政府提供安全软件和服务的努力的一部分。
自 2016 年以来，黑莓 (BB) 大部分时间都退出了手机业务，但多年来，它继续将其品牌授权给手机制造商，包括 TCL 和最近的 OnwardMobility，一家位于德克萨斯州奥斯汀的安全初创公司，用于 5G 黑莓设备在安卓软件上运行。 （BlackBerry 的 Android 设备不受服务终止的影响。）
黑莓在 1990 年代末和 2000 年代初推出的带有物理键盘的老式手机曾经非常受欢迎，人们给它们起了个绰号“CrackBerries”。键盘吸引了希望使用台式计算机上使用的一些工具在办公室外灵活工作的专业人士。
这些设备成为华尔街人士、金卡戴珊等名人甚至总统巴拉克奥巴马的身份象征和固定装置，部分原因在于其在安全方面的良好声誉。在 2012 年达到顶峰时，黑莓拥有超过 8000 万活跃用户。
该公司成立于 1996 年，当时名为 Research In Motion，其产品是双向寻呼机。它的第一个小工具“Inter@ctive Pager”允许客户使用物理键盘响应页面，这是一种文本消息/电子邮件的混合体。三年后，RIM 在 BlackBerry 850 中引入了 BlackBerry 名称。
最终，黑莓手机获得了对电子邮件、应用程序、网页浏览和 BBM 的支持，这是一种早于 WhatsApp 的加密文本消息平台，并且在黑莓被竞争对手超越后仍然存活了很长时间。
但苹果在 2007 年推出 iPhone 的触摸屏革命，让黑莓的产品显得有些欠缺。它尝试了触摸屏和滑出式键盘模型，但收效甚微。它开发了一些没有物理键盘的手机，但这些手机都缺少黑莓的关键区别：触觉键盘。
黑莓最终放弃了自己的软件，转而采用 Android 并将其安全软件放在首位。它在企业安全软件和汽车软件方面取得了一些成功。
尽管 TCL 在 2020 年停止生产以黑莓为名的设备，但一些粉丝仍然期待 OnwardMobility 的黑莓 5G 设备的到来，该设备原定于 2021 年推出。 .”
Classic BlackBerry phones will stop working January 4
(CNN)You soon won't be able to use that old BlackBerry phone sitting at the bottom of your drawer somewhere.
Starting Tuesday, January 4, the company will stop running support for its classic devices running BlackBerry 10, 7.1 OS and earlier. This means all of its older devices not running on Android software will no longer be able to use data, send text messages, access the internet or make calls, even to 911.
While most mobile users have moved on from BlackBerry -- the last version of its operating system launched in 2013 -- the move to discontinue support for its phones represents the end of what was once considered bleeding-edge technology.
The company originally announced the news in September 2020 as part of its efforts to focus on providing security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world under the name BlackBerry Limited.
BlackBerry (BB) has been mostly out of the phone business since 2016, but over the years it continued to license its brand to phone manufacturers, including TCL and more recently OnwardMobility, an Austin, Texas-based security startup, for a 5G Blackberry device running on Android software. (BlackBerry's Android devices are not affected by the end of service.)
BlackBerry's old school cell phones with physical keyboards from the late 1990s and early 2000s were once so popular people nicknamed them "CrackBerries." The keyboard appealed to professionals who wanted the flexibility of working outside the office with some of the tools they used on a desktop computer.
The devices became a status symbol and fixture for people on Wall Street, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, and even President Barack Obama, thanks in part to its great reputation for security. At its peak in 2012, BlackBerry had more than 80 million active users.
The company got its start in 1996 as Research In Motion with what it called two-way pagers. Its first gadget, the "Inter@ctive Pager," allowed customers to respond to pages with a physical keyboard, a kind of text messaging/email hybrid. Three years later, RIM introduced the BlackBerry name with the BlackBerry 850.
Eventually, BlackBerry phones gained support for email, apps, web browsing and BBM, an encrypted text messaging platform that predated WhatsApp and survived long after BlackBerry was surpassed by its rivals.
But Apple's touchscreen revolution with the iPhone in 2007 made BlackBerry's offerings appear lacking. It tried touch screens and slide-out keyboard models, with little success. It developed a few phones with no physical keyboard, but those were missing BlackBerry's key differentiator: its tactile keyboard.
BlackBerry eventually gave up on its own software, embracing Android and layering its security software on top. It found some success in enterprise security software and automotive software.
Although TCL stopped making devices with the BlackBerry name in 2020, some fans are holding out for the arrival of OnwardMobility's BlackBerry 5G device, which was originally expected to launch in 2021. Despite the delay, its website still features a banner that says "coming 2021."
CNN Business' Dave Goldman contributed to this report.
