BlackBerry will license QWERTY keyboard design to allow it to live on

BlackBerry is no longer making devices in-house, but that doesn’t mean all their hardware influence is going to die. BlackBerry CEO John Chen has confirmed that the iconic BlackBerry keyboard will indeed live on.

The company is going to license their keyboard’s design for other manufacturers to build devices with the original pad that BlackBerry gained fame for in their earlier years. This would seem to suggest that at least one QWERTY device from TCL may still be on the way.

With that, there’s still the question of quality control. The design of the keyboard — which uses ergonomic bumps each key to make typing on a small device a breeze — is one thing, but beyond that is the need to make sure the keyboard has the tactic feedback to bring that satisfying feeling we know and love.

BlackBerry made a fortune on this design.

That keyboard was all the difference for folks who flat out refused to get rid of their BlackBerry devices while Android and iOS shot past it in popularity. Let’s hope TCL or whoever will be tasked with the next keyboard-laden BlackBerry phone will get it right.