BlackBerry Launches The Classic, Looking To Build On Loyal Customer Base

BlackBerry Wednesday introduced the Classic to members of the media and industry analysts in New York City, saying the new smartphone "builds on the things that you love, and improves on the things that you don't."

The new Classic features a 3.5-inch display, runs on BlackBerry 10.3.1, and returns some of the older features that have always set the company's smartphones apart.

BlackBerry has brought back the hard keyboard, calling it "the best keyboard out there." It also returned the belt of four navigating buttons in the center of the device. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company improved upon some internal specs as well, most notably, the battery.

/**/ /**/

/**/ brightcove.createExperiences(); /**/ [Related Video: What Happened To BlackBerry]

"What you see in this product is everything that you know about BlackBerry but has been upgraded," said BlackBerry CEO John Chen. "We upgraded the battery because we think that this is one of the most productive elements. It is 22 hours nonstop, and I believe that is something a lot of our competitors are trying to chase us on, the battery and the security. People who haven’t used the Classic or haven’t used BlackBerry before … they will like it."

Chen says that while the purpose of the Classic is to give loyal BlackBerry customers what they've asked for -- returning and improving upon the features that drew them to the devices in the first place -- the more important goal is to broaden that loyal customer base and draw in new users. Those new users include young people, who may have never owned or even used a BlackBerry smartphone before, he said.

"They're giving people what they're asking for and going back to their roots," said Rick Jordan, director of mobile sales at Tenet Computer Group, a Toronto-based solution provider and longtime BlackBerry partner. "It's what propelled people to fall in love with BlackBerry in the first place. They are going back to corporate and enterprise clients that do like the keyboard. They are reinventing themselves, and they are listening to their customers and are on the right path. They got the security, and by bringing out the Classic, it shows they are listening and delivering to their enterprise customers."

The Classic runs on a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor; has 16 GB of built-in storage, upgradable to 128 GB with a microSD card; sports an 8-megapixel rear-focused camera and a 2-megapixel secondary camera; and offers 22 hours of battery life with mixed use.

The 6.3-ounce smartphone runs BlackBerry 10.3.1, featuring faster Web browsing, and costs $449 unlocked. It will be carried by both Verizon and AT&T in the U.S.

This is the second smartphone the company has released since Chen took the helm 13 months ago, and the first smartphone since the BlackBerry Passport release in late September.

"BlackBerry has been making some aggressive moves to show the world they are still a strong player in the mobile space," said Douglas Grosfield, president and CEO of Xylotek Solutions, an Ontario-based solution provider and BlackBerry partner. "They have been through some major restructuring and, as a result of those changes -- along with ‎ensuring they have a laser focus on their core competencies -- they are regaining lost ground in the smartphone market.

"The Passport and now the Classic are exquisite examples of superior hardware, crazy-long battery life, amazing graphics and speed, but most importantly, define the standard all others are striving to achieve with respect to highly secure and reliable mobile email communications in the corporate space. Nobody else measures up in this arena," he said.

BlackBerry also recently launched an iPhone trade-in program, offering as much $550 for those who trade in an iPhone for the BlackBerry Passport. The company also unveiled a partnership with Samsung where the two mobile vendors will sell each other's security technology to enterprise customers.

The BlackBerry Classic will be distributed through Ingram Micro Mobility, and division President Shailendra Gupta said in a statement that the Classic should be a big hit with the company's solution provider channel.

Ingram Micro also will be offering BlackBerry enterprise bundles oriented around security and communications, according to a company statement. Security bundle offerings include VPN authentication, while the communications bundle has BBM Meetings.

MICHAEL NOVINSON contributed to this story.

PUBLISHED DEC. 17, 2014