BlackBerry provided (another) update on its BlackBerry 10 platform, while still not addressing the key question – its plans for new BB10 hardware.

In a blog post, Marty Beard, the company’s COO, said that following news that the BlackBerry Classic is nearing the end of the line, this was “misinterpreted by many”. But while he said that while the company is “committed to not just maintaining BB10 software, but advancing it to be even more secure and provide even greater productivity”, again the company provided no update on plans for new BlackBerry 10 hardware.

It was noted that “future BB10 software updates for 2017 are already in the works”, and that devices such as Passport and Leap are “still available to our loyal customers”. Leap has been on the market since April 2015, while Passport dates back to late 2014.

Earlier this week, Beard told Bloomberg that “the company’s never said that we would not build another BB10 device,” but the reverse of this is also true. In response to a question, the company today tweeted new BB10 hardware is “not out of the question”.

While BlackBerry clearly has a large enterprise customer base for which stability is an important consideration, the easiest way for the company to avoid misinterpretation would be a clear and unequivocal statement with regard to new BlackBerry 10 hardware.

Android support
Beard’s latest missive also touched on the company’s Android-based activities, following the launch of Priv last year, and at least on this it was somewhat less ambiguous.

“Priv was the first iteration…and soon there will be others,” he said.

Beard has been keen to point out that the company’s implementation of Android provides the “security and connectivity BlackBerry is known for”, meaning it is “the only one with this unique flavour of smartphone in the market today”.