BlackBerry CEO John Chen appeals to "grown-up" BlackBerry fans in return to Classic model

Enlarge Photo

BlackBerry CEO John Chen.

Patrick Hoge

Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

Email  |  Google+  |  Twitter  |  LinkedIn

BlackBerry CEO John Chen appealed to the "grown-up" of "loyal (current and former) BlackBerry users" in an open letter Wednesday that urged readers to check out the company's soon-to-be-released mobile device, called the BlackBerry Classic.

The note, posted on BlackBerry's website, fits snugly with Chen's strategy of positioning BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), once dominant among business users, as the natural partner to help large companies manage secure communications in a world dominated by mobile computing. Chen didn't say when the device would ship or what the price would be, but he said the design will harken back to the iconic handset that made BlackBerry great, albeit with a bigger and sharper screen and a growing catalog of applications.

Chen is the turnaround artist who previously led Pleasanton-based Sybase as chairman and CEO from the brink of failure to become a profit machine over a period of 14 years, culminating in a $5.8 billion sale to SAP (NYSE: SAP) in 2010. He still lives in Pleasanton, and has brought a software industry approach to Ontario-based BlackBerry, for the first time extending the company's proprietary Messenger service to other platforms, including Google's Android and Apple's iOS, which decimated BlackBerry's onetime lead.

Chen hasn't given up on BlackBerry's handset legacy, however, and last month unveiled BlackBerry's first new phone model in two years, the Passport, which featured an unusual square, touch-enabled screen and a physical keyboard designed to improve typing accuracy.

Perhaps covering his bases, Chen struck a conservative tone in plugging BlackBerry's newest phone Wednesday.

Patrick covers technology.