Chief executive of BlackBerry Thorsten Heins has claimed tablets will be “dead” within the next five years.
Speaking to the Bloomberg news service, the expert said by 2018 there will be no reason to own one of the devices as they are “not a good business model”.
Meanwhile, he forecast the BlackBerry Q10 handset – which sold out at three outlets in Selfridges within hours following its launch – will bring in lots of revenue for the mobile phone manufacturer, adding he expected to ship several tens of millions of units.
However, he did not give the time period over which the company might sell the devices, nor did he disclose exactly how many Q10 smartphones have sold in the UK so far.
It is likely Mr Heins’ latest exclamations will be met with some apprehension, given that tablets have driven forward the profits of firms such as Apple and Samsung.
His words also come after recent figures from ABI Research suggested sales of the gadgets will surpass an estimated $64 billion (£41.7 billion), this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 38 per cent.
