A few years ago, if someone had said to me that they were contemplating bringing phone brand BlackBerry back from the dead, again, I’d have scoffed and thought, “What’s the point?”
But today the idea doesn’t sound so reckless, and it’s why when I saw a Threads post from well-known BlackBerry evangelist Kevin Michaluk (AKA CrackBerry Kevin) linking to a petition titled Bring Back BlackBerry, I thought, “What a great time to do it.”
Here’s why it may just work, provided it’s done right.
What’s going on?
He’s putting the band back together
Before we get into why it may work, let’s bring you up to speed, and what wild scheme doesn’t start off with a really good manifesto?
Michaluk has published just such a thing on CrackBerry.com, detailing why he considers it to be the right time to resurrect BlackBerry, listing everything from conscious efforts to reduce screen time, phone addiction, and social media use, to more crucially, a renewed love of the physical keyboard.
His manifesto leads to a website titled Bring Back BlackBerry, where you can sign a petition showing your interest and wait for news and updates.
It was apparently sent live several weeks before the manifesto was published, and without his name attached, but that didn’t stop people from finding and signing it.
He took this, along with evidence pulled from social media about nostalgia for old QWERTY keyboard phones, as a sign to take action.
Here’s where it goes beyond the fevered dreams of one of the first, true mobile fanboys, into something far more real, and with true potential.
CrackBerry Kevin is also Clicks Kevin, in that he’s the co-founder of Clicks Technology, the company responsible for a series of keyboard cases for the Apple iPhone and more recently, Android devices like the Google Pixel and Motorola Razr series.
In the manifesto he writes, “I’ve got the track record. I’ve got the team. I’ve got the keys. Literally.”
Where it all starts to Click
Why the world may be ready for more
The Clicks keyboard case is the primary reason I’m all for the return of BlackBerry, at least in some form.
While the first Clicks case was a thing for the true keyboard enthusiast, with its steep learning curve requiring serious dedication to master, the second version is far more accessible and all the better for it.
I couldn’t type very quickly on the first Clicks, but almost immediately fell into a pleasing rhythm on the second version, and it’s a wonderful experience when you get it right.
Clicks version two deserves a wider audience, and there are other recent device launches which point to the world being ready for more.
The Unihertz Titan 2 has completely won over Android Police’s Stephen Radochia, and he lists many of the upsides Michaluk also mentions, from lower screen time to taking more time to formulate messages and emails, in addition to the joy of pressing physical keys on a phone.
The Clicks keyboard case is the primary reason I’m all for the return of BlackBerry.
I’ve recently spent some time with the Minimal Phone, a QWERTY keyboard-equipped mobile with an E-Ink screen, which also promises to help lessen screen time.
The phone isn’t perfect, but once you get used to the keyboard’s layout and idiosyncrasies, it’s fairly easy to type accurately and with some speed. It’s a more tactile, more personal feeling than typing on a glass touchscreen.
I have no nostalgia for BlackBerry phones at all, but I still appreciate a well-judged physical keyboard.
Do it right this time
Nostalgia can’t be the only reason
You read that right: I have no nostalgic love for BlackBerry phones. I cared little for them when I was buying my first “smart” phones, preferring the Samsung BlackJack and the first HTC Touch as I moved on from analog phones like the original Motorola Razr.
I watched as the company failed to compete with the Apple iPhone, and destroy its reputation with rubbish like the BlackBerry Z10.
I sat in the audience at Mobile World Congress 2017 when CrackBerry Kevin stood on stage and helped introduce the world to the TCL-produced BlackBerry KeyOne, and again in New York the year after for the BlackBerry Key2, bored by the reliance on nostalgia to convince me to care.
The KeyOne was awful, but the Key2 was an excellent smartphone with a fantastic physical keyboard, and it even managed to appeal to me as a non-BlackBerry fan.
It paved the way for my appreciation of the Minimal Phone and the Clicks keyboard case, despite the way it was promoted.
The Android-powered BlackBerry phones heavily relied on nostalgia and brand name recognition to sell, and it was tiresome.
For every person who still remembered their BlackBerry PIN, there was another who didn’t feel anything for the brand’s past. History hung around BlackBerry’s neck like a chain, weighing it down, and ultimately holding it back.
HMD Global eventually managed to break free of Nokia’s past and become its own thing, and whatever CrackBerry Kevin has in mind for BlackBerry’s comeback must do the same from the very start.
Hints at what’s to come
It may not be a phone
Nostalgia will only get CrackBerry Kevin and BlackBerry so far in 2025. Some of the people interested in a phone with a physical keyboard today won’t have been born during BlackBerry’s heyday.
In the same way music fans have found a passion for vinyl records in the streaming age, there needs to be something extra in the experience.
Whether it’s tactility, a lifestyle choice, or just simple enjoyment, whatever BlackBerry’s comeback turns out to be, it must go further than “hey look, it’s a BlackBerry in 2025!”
There’s a hint in the manifesto about what’s brewing: “A Clicks x BlackBerry collab. The real deal, A modern BlackBerry, reborn for a new generation.”
Does this mean a BlackBerry-branded and tuned Clicks case, or Clicks’ first full phone? Either way, it sounds promising, and I’ve already added my name to the petition.
However, I’m a little concerned by the talk of the BlackBerry legacy and how it’s the name that’s missing from the modern QWERTY phones.
I understand they exist mostly because of BlackBerry’s success, but there’s also a reason BlackBerry isn’t around anymore. It’s because it failed to grow and evolve in a changing world, and relied too much on the old guard to keep it afloat.
I agree with CrackBerry Kevin that now is a great time to reintroduce eager mobile keyboarders to the BlackBerry experience, but the name can’t be used as the prime reason people should care.
The eventual product needs to go beyond this, and use the name diligently and respectfully.
In the same way people have found personal reasons to enjoy film cameras, vinyl records, and retro games today, BlackBerry must help people do the same for its keyboard, or it’s destined to make the same mistakes that have condemned it multiple times in the past.
