The average smartphone contains roughly 25,000 germs per square inch, but now, BlackBerry may be doing something about all that grossness.

The once-dominant company, which now only accounts for less than 1% of the smartphone market share, is looking into designing a bacteria-free smartphone, according to company CEO John Chen.

Chen made the comment Wednesday at a hospital north of Toronto, where he announced that BlackBerry was partnering with ThoughtWire and Cisco Systems Inc. to provide hospital workers with a new portable messaging and alert system.

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