Today is the day that BlackBerry shuts down services for its once popular mobile phones after 22 years.

The Canadian company announced that, as of January the 4th 2022, support for devices running BlackBerry 7.1 and BlackBerry 10 would be discontinued, bringing an end to what were defining business tools of their time for many.

Ceasing of BlackBerry services marks the end of a smartphone era, with the group who still use the devices now unable to access data services.

In a document published last year, the company said it would “take steps” to decommission legacy services for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS, and that devices running on these operating systems would “no longer reliably function,” including for data, phone calls, SMS and 911 calls.

The firm indicated that it was dropping support because it now puts its focus towards security software and that its old products such as mobile handsets did not reflect its business.

It had prolonged support in the years since that transition “as an expression of thanks to our loyal partners and customers”, it said.

In recent years, the company pivoted to making cybersecurity software and embedded operating systems for cars, reducing support for its BlackBerry phones.

Despite the handset’s success in the early and mid-2000s, Blackberry lost out as rivals such an Apple and Android brought out and popularised technology such as touchscreen.

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The company, which started in January 1999, found popularity after the release of its BlackBerry 850 handset, as it offered services that competitors couldn’t provide, such as emails on the go.

Inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard and ‘BBM’ – BlackBerry’s Instant Messenger service – helped the devices stand out, and they found fame with regular users and businesses leaders alike.

In 2022, BlackBerry is losing out to instant messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, and the ability of modern handsets to allow users to do almost anything.

The company announced in 2016 that it would no longer be making its own devices, with TCL picking up the license. In 2020, TCL’s license ended only to be picked up by Onward Mobility.

Onward Mobility began working with the manufacturer, FIH Mobile, in 2021 and there are rumours that the collaboration will launch the first 5G BlackBerry running Android in the future.

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