Earlier this week, the world got its first proper look at BlackBerry’s new device range, a selection of offerings as the troubled manufacturer looks to relaunch itself in an ever-changing mobile market. But alongside the expected rectangular mobile and tablet devices was something eye-catching – even if it wasn’t for the right reasons.
We’d first seen the Passport (formerly codenamed Windermere) in June this year, when BlackBerry CEO John Chen both announced and showed it off during the company’s quarterly earnings report.
The square-shaped device (above, centre), featuring a full HD 4.5-inch square screen with the ability to show up to 20% more characters per line than standard screens, is BlackBerry’s aim to grab back the slice of the business market it has been losing to the likes of Apple and Samsung as workers switch away from their old or corporate BlackBerry devices.
Seeing the Passport alongside the form factors many of us are used to when it comes to mobile and tablet devices, you do get the impression that it could be a game-changer. BlackBerry enjoyed years of success with a supposedly outdated physical keyboard model as its rivals embraced touchscreens, although the company’s own foray in this technology was somewhat of a damp squib. But a new and eye-catching shape could well be the thing that gets consumers to shun the identikit Android rectangles and branch out.
"The BlackBerry Passport will take you to new places on the best business trip you’ve ever had," the company wrote in a blog post revealing the device, "We want you to imagine the possibilities."
The Passport is set to be launched in London in September, and the world will be watching to see just what BlackBerry has come up with.
