"If I decide not to go ahead with that phone, you may have seen the last BlackBerry-designed phone," John Chen told reporters. BlackBerry has announced that its internal hardware development division will be shuttered; effectively, the unique BlackBerry phone is dead. However, one phone for the fiercely loyal BlackBerry addict and casual consumer alike is already finished with development and remains to be released.

From a financial standpoint, the company has shouldered a huge cost simply to develop the phone. It simply makes sense to get it to market and realize returns on a device that already exists. But for the nearly 100 passionate people at Waterloo to be out of work who made this phone happen and for the embattled proponents and users of the brand, it's about more than that. This is the death of a career for some, and the death of a major interest for many.

Mr. Chen, we love BlackBerry and want to see it survive long into the future. It's not hard to understand why you made the hard decision you did. We appreciate the chance you gave phones as well. But as a fan of the company's consumer hardware, I plead with you: please release the final phone! It will probably sell better than other phones due to its nature as the last--even though risk is present as with any product launch--and the losses resulting from this phone already exist. At least give the device a chance to create some revenue. To sit on a finished product that should be the ultimate BlackBerry, a demonstration of the company's longstanding hardware tradition and a way to help drive software interest, is a sad thing. It certainly snubs the loyal fans out there, and even those who made the great effort to create the phone. And finally, it just doesn't make sense. For both your benefit and the consumers, if not just for old time's sake, please release that last phone, Waterloo. Decide to go ahead.