Troubled Blackberry won’t reprise tie-in with Alicia Keys

The Canadian company has confirmed the singer’s upcoming departure.

The move comes as BlackBerry retreats from the consumer market to focus on businesses, governments and other large organisations.

“BlackBerry and Alicia Keys have completed our year-long collaboration,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with such an incredibly talented and passionate individual.”

Ms Keys was hired when the company launched its long-delayed BlackBerry 10 devices in January last year.

The new phones were seen as BlackBerry’s last chance to win back market share lost to Apple Inc’s iPhone and devices using Google Inc’s Android technology. But sales flopped, triggering billions of dollars in losses and forcing BlackBerry to slash its staff.

In recent months the company has tried and failed to sell itself.

The chief executive who hired Ms Keys has left, along with many of his senior executives.

In her BlackBerry role, Ms Keys contributed to a collaborative project encouraging fans to submit photographs that later appeared in music videos tied to her tour.

Shortly after taking the job, some tech blogs noted a tweet from her verified Twitter account that appeared to have been sent from an iPhone. Ms Keys said at the time her account had been hacked.

Last month, BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis cut his stake in the company to 4.99 per cent from eight per cent, and said that a group, which included Mr Lazaridis, had walked away from exploring a bid for the smartphone maker.