Your BlackBerry dies today: End of an era for iconic handset

BlackBerry devices and their physical keyboards were once the go-to mobile device both for professionals

The phones' appeal waned as Apple’s iPhone and a slew of Android handsets with larger displays, better graphics and wider app offerings took over the market during the past decade.

BlackBerry devices running the original operating system and services will no longer be supported after today, marking the end of an era for the storied device that catapulted work into the mobile era.

Ontario-based BlackBerry, the company formerly known as Research In Motion whose signature handset in the 1990s came to embody working on the move, said handsets running its in-house software “will no longer be expected to reliably function” after Tuesday, according to its end-of-life page.