Back to basics for Blackberry as it resurrects keyboard

Blackberry may be down, but it's certainly not out – not according to its executives at least. The company has decided to go back to its roots in a bid to recover from its falling sales, with its latest device featuring the much-loved – and increasingly uncommon– QWERTY keyboard.

Unveiled today at Mobile World Congress, the Blackberry Q20 is a nod back to the company's heyday, when the platform was the choice smartphone for business users. However, the growing popularity of rival platforms Android and iOS has seen the firm slip further behind Google and Apple as consumers demanded more from their mobiles.

The Q20 handset uses Blackberry 10 software, and the classic menus, back, send and end buttons, along with an integrated trackpad. There’s also a 3.5 inch touchscreen, and a larger battery to provide more power.

Chief executive John Chen, who took over at the ailing mobile firm late last year, said the change was the result of customer demand.

“In my first 90 days on the job, I consistently heard from our ardent BlackBerry customers that the hard buttons and trackpad are an essential part of the BlackBerry QWERTY experience, that made their BlackBerry smartphone their go-to productivity tool, He said. “I want these customers to know that we heard them, and this new smartphone will be for them.”

The phone is due to go on sale in the second half of the year.

Blackberry also said it was making a lower cost touchscreen phone with Foxconn. The Z3 will go on sale in Indonesia in April, with a price tag of under $200.