BlackBerry used to reign in boardrooms around the world once it was unchallenged as the king of mobile communication. It started as a company founded by two university students who were obsessed with wireless technology that led to the generation of smart phones and loss to more vibrant competitors. The story of its rise out of revolutionary invention through dramatic fall is one of the most intriguing stories in technology.
Humble Origins
In 1984, Fregin and Lazaridis, two students of the University of Waterloo, came up with the idea of creating a company that focused on wireless technology as well as mobile communication innovation.
Early Products
The first product that RIM introduced was a DigiSync Film KeyKode Reader and then later the Interactive pager 900 in 1996 the name that made RIM be seen as a serious innovator in its wireless technology.
Goes Public
Later in the year 1997 RIM went public in Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq and got the much-needed financial base to finance research and development and increase its international communication mobile objectives.
Smartphone Born
BlackBerry also transformed the business communication by integrating email, phone, and internet browsing into a single handheld device, which essentially overnight started the entire era of the modern smart phone.
First Launch
In 2002, BlackBerry 8510 was introduced as a phone, wirelessly sending emails and having access to the internet and it immediately became a gadget that every corporate professional in the world had to have.
Golden Era
The BlackBerry stock went on a skyrocket between 2002 and 2008 after its security-oriented gadgets had become a symbol of mobile business communication and international business connections.
iPhone Arrives
Introduced in 2007, the iPhone by Apple revealed the weakness of BlackBerry. The consumers were quickly being torn away from the keyboard-based devices of BlackBerry to its revolutionary touchscreen and the App Store.
Decline Accelerates
BlackBerry failed in its struggle against Apple and Android. Leadership change and the introduction of BlackBerry 10 failed to reverse its market share losses that continued to beckon the company.
Strategic Pivot
In 2013, Fairfax Financial had completely redefined BlackBerry to focus entirely on software solutions, cybersecurity services, and enterprise productivity tools as the new elements of its foundation.
Software Reborn
The QNX platform used by global automakers today and the cybersecurity solutions provided to enterprises across the globe have earned BlackBerry its credit due to how it can always reinvent itself, no matter how flexible a company is.
