The story of blackberry it was really vertiginous Founded in the mid-80s, In 2010 it had almost half of the global smartphone market and a cstock market capitalization of US$110,000 million. Three years later, It fell to 6% of the market, is currently worth zero and no longer operates in this segment that generates billions of dollars a year.
Among the factors that precipitated its fall, analysts They indicate problems in the management of the firmbut also the entry of strong players in the smartphone segment such as the landing of Apple with its first iPhone in 2007 and just a few years later with the development of the Android operating system by Google. A combo that complicated the existence of Blackberry.
His story
In 1984, Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind BlackBerry, was founded by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin in Waterloo, Ontario. Initially, they focused on developing wireless networking technology for businesses, but eventually expanded into the mobile device market.
The rise and fall of the company is even studied in business schools around the world.or even the movie “BlackBerry: the beginning of the story” is inspired by the book Losing the Signal (Losing Signal, 2015), by journalists Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff and details the rise and failure of the company.
The first BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry 850, was launched in 1999 in Munich, Germany.. This mobile device had a full keyboard, which was unusual at the time. Although its screen could only display eight lines of text, it could send messages, access email, and receive full Internet pages.
BlackBerry became famous for its built-in QWERTY keyboard and its ability to send and receive email over cell phone company networks. The term “blackberry” also became synonymous with any smart cell phone with a full keyboard. Over the years, BlackBerry used its own operating system, BlackBerry OS, and its messaging service called BBM. However, later, their phones adopted the Android operating system.
In addition to being able to receive and send emails, RIM devices came with an integrated instant messaging application called BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), which allowed direct messages between devices of the brand. for free and unlimited. Users could chat and that was one of its great milestones because until now only SMS existed and telephone companies charged for the service.
The truth is The company could not adapt quickly to the arrival of its competitors and in a short time Apple and Samsung began to capture a large part of the market. Even when Apple launched the touch screen phone, Blackberry rejected the new technology, a big mistake that would pay dearly.
By 2016, the firm had carried out massive layoffs because it did not stop generating losses. Finally, over the years they lost more and more importance in the market until they sold all their patents for US$600 million. Their devices also no longer received software updates and became obsolete.
BlackBerry currently focuses on enterprise services and cybersecurity instead of mobile devices. The company also signed agreements with several automotive companies to provide software and security for their connected vehicles.
Despite BlackBerry is no longer a major force in the mobile market, its legacy and impact on mobile technology is still remembered and appreciated by many users.
