Smartphone company BlackBerry will officially go out of commission and will no longer be able to use services on its operating systems as of Tuesday, according to a release by Manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM).

The Canadian company stated that the phone which rose to prominence in the early 2000s as the go-to device for business executives and professionals for its ability to send and receive large files and efficiently access emails ends a 22-year existence.

The company had indicated the move in December stating “As of this date (January 4, 2022), devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS, and 9-1-1 (emergency) functionality.”

BlackBerry which led to the rise of social messaging, long before the idea of social media came to the fore, for over a decade, saw its demand among users plummet with the advent of Android and Apple iOS-enabled devices.

A fall they have failed to recover from despite attempts to adapt, with the most recent trial in 2018 departing from their signature QWERTY keyboard, to full touch screen as they integrated android technology.

The move which was aimed to lure modern users back to the device saw limited returns and signaled the possible end of an era for the once revered company.

Since 2013, RIM has shifted its most of its attention to research-based activities as wound-down manufacturing.