Diehard BlackBerry fans bemoan the end to Canadian-made smartphones
TORONTO — BlackBerry addicts are notoriously loyal, but even they will have a hard time sticking by their beloved device now that BlackBerry Ltd. is outsourcing production, say observers who admit to being diehard users themselves.
News that the Waterloo, Ont.-based company will stop making their own smartphones represented another nail in the coffin for the so-called CrackBerry, at least for enthusiasts who pride themselves on backing the homegrown product in the face of an iPhone revolution.
Toronto devotee Alex Davis feared that “outsourcing the heck out of it” would result in poor quality, but mostly complained about losing the ability to call it a Canadian phone. He stuck with BlackBerry even as friends and family picked up slicker, more versatile rivals from Apple and Samsung.
“I always felt like I’m going down with the ship. It’s like ‘Titanic,’” joked Davis, who runs The Repair Store, which specializes in servicing the BlackBerry. “I have a lot of customers who come in and they go: ‘I’m going down with the ship! I’m Canadian, I’m sticking with them and I don’t care if they go broke, it’s a Canadian product.’”