John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry Limited, says the company decided to stop handset production and focus on software licensing for the smartphone market.

[quote font=”georgia” font_size=”22″ font_style=”italic” align=”left” arrow=”yes”]BlackBerry last week announced that it will no longer be developing handset hardware in-house anymore, but will allow the company’s third party partner to continue to provide that function.[/quote]Chen says licensing the BlackBerry device software experience allows the company to leverage its core strengths to provide secure, connected, and inherently mobile solutions.

According to the Blackberry CEO the decision will also  allow expansion mobility choices available to its customers by bringing BlackBerry security and productivity applications to a wider audience across multiple platforms and devices.

BlackBerry last week announced that it will no longer be developing handset hardware in-house anymore, but will allow the company’s third party partner to continue to provide that function.

“BlackBerry is no longer just about the smartphone, but the smart in the phone. That means that we will be focused on developing and licensing our secure device software and the BlackBerry brand. We will discontinue handset hardware development and fully leverage third parties to develop hardware and distribute and support the BlackBerry handset brand,” says Chen.

Chen assures that the company will not abandon its smartphone devices, but will fully leverage third parties to develop the hardware and distribute and support the BlackBerry handset brand.

“There will still be new BlackBerry-branded phones, as we continue to create and license secure smartphone software for third parties to make and sell them,” he says.

“We will have BlackBerry devices on an ongoing basis; I always wanted to find a way to keep our iconic devices. I just needed a way to be efficient and to be able to make money. I think we’ve found the model,” says the CEO.

The CEO further explains that through this strategy, “there will continue to be BlackBerry-branded devices in the market; when you see our logo it means security, from our class-leading enterprise software to devices secured by BlackBerry software.”