The smartphone industry is one of the biggest markets on planet earth so it goes without saying that the competition is plain brutal. It takes more than just a slick design and a decent performance for a phone manufacturer company to earn its fair share in the market and thankfully, BlackBerry claims to have what it takes.

Recently, the company went public on its New York event which will take place on June 7. The picture that was posted on Twitter reads the sentence “An icon reborn” while on the bottom right corner it says “BlackBerry Key2”. That’s the official announcement of the Key 2, a smartphone that will be the successor of Key one and the latest addition to the Key series.

The Key one was an impressive handset that could stand its ground in the mid-range, while at the same time introducing a new competitive advantage against its rivals; a physical QWERTY keyboard. For the younger audience a physical keyboard may seem like an unnecessary addition coming from a different century. The company’s intention however was to bring back a bit of nostalgia but more importantly create a solution for the – admittedly small – portion of consumers who could not stand a virtual keyboard for everyday use.

When it first came out, the Key One’s future was a constant topic of discussions and conflict. Experts could not unanimously decide whether that extra quite distinctive feature would be a contributory factor to skyrocketing sales or the company’s doom. Sales proved that there was a middle ground after all, although it seemed to be positioned a tad on the side that favours the doom scenarios. In other words, sales did no go as well as expected, primarily due to the device’s inexcusably high price.

Yet, BlackBerry is going about it one more time and judging by the ads published so far, we do expect to see something that will balance the company’s expertise on hardware optimization and software security, with the current trends.

Not much is known in terms of tech specs so far, but as the model’s name gives away, the devices on those series come with physical keyboards, so it would be a shame to trade off its most unique feature for a more conventional design.

In addition, judging by its predecessor, the Key 2 is expected to stick to the Android operating system. The camera should also get a serious upgrade, as the Key One had a somewhat decent sensor but it was disappointingly wasted due to the lack of the OIS feature. Hopefully we will also see – for the first time on a BlackBerry smartphone – a dual lens camera and a higher body to screen ratio. This will help the company catch up with today’s norms and probably drive up its sales.

Speaking of sales, it’s a shame that there’s no upgrade program available for US customers, coming directly from the Canadian smartphone maker. The issue could be deriving from lack of BlackBerry stores throughout the country, or even low sales. Perhaps similar deals can be found on carrier contracts. In any case, the circulation of the BlackBerry Key2 could be a good opportunity for the company to expand its target audience.

What do you think about the Key2’s announcement? Share your comments with us in the comments below!