Tech

BlackBerry dumps Alicia Keys, says it’s not you – it’s me

It’s not you, Alicia, it’s me.

Ailing smartphone maker BlackBerry gave celebrity spokesperson Alicia Keys the boot on Thursday — and appeared to use the classic breakup line to cut the cord.

“BlackBerry and Alicia Keys have completed our year-long collaboration,” BlackBerry said in a statement.

“We thank Alicia for her many contributions including providing creative direction for the BlackBerry Keep Moving Project which attracted more than 40 million visits.”

The smartphone maker, whose once-leading marketshare position has been steamrolled by Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Android devices, said it “enjoyed the opportunity to work with such an incredibly talented and passionate individual.”

Shares in the Waterloo, Ontario, company have fallen 35 percent in the last year and 82 percent over the last five years.

The 32-year-old Grammy-winning pop singer was brought aboard last Jan. 30 as the Global Creative Director.

They will part company on Jan. 30.

Oddly, BlackBerry didn’t mention at the time that it was only going to be a one-year gig.

If BlackBerry brass thought Keys alone could rescue the company, they were wrong.

The BlackBerry 10 launch fizzled — with the public shunning the new devices in droves.

Since Keys came aboard, BlackBerry has failed to find a buyer for the company and is now retreating from the consumer market.

It has also changed its CEO.

Keys at the time said she was “going to work closely with the app designers and developers, the content creators, the retailers and the carriers to really explore this BlackBerry 10 platform and create ideas for its future.”

Shortly after debuting on the BlackBerry team, however, Keys embarrassed the company, when caught using an iPhone to tweet about joining BlackBerry. Keys said that her phone was hacked.

The singer is not the first celebrity to become a creative director for a challenged brand.

Lady Gaga in January 2011 became Polaroid’s creative director for a special line of products. Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in October of that same year.