By Not many people know that the Canadian company that produces the world-famous BlackBerry is actually called Research In Motion (RIM). The company on December 22, 2021, announced that as of January 4, 2022, it will no longer support its BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier OS, BlackBerry 10 software, or BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, cutting off data, phone calls, SMS, and 9-1-1 functionality. In simple terms, the company is putting an end to the production of the BlackBerry device.
RIM was founded in 1984 by two Canadian engineering students, Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin, to be named the first wireless data technology developer in North America, and the first company outside of Scandinavia to develop connectivity products such as modems and pagers.
As of 2004, RIM had over 2 million subscribers worldwide, which grew to 4 million by the end of 2006. This was a period when no self-respecting high net worth individual or politician wouldn’t be caught dead without his or her BlackBerry.
In 2007, BlackBerry was said to have made over $3 billion in revenue and a net income of $631 million, making it one of the most used phones in the United States. Interestingly, the need to use his BlackBerry was a major talking point during Barack Obama’s administration in 2009, as the world’s most powerful president insisted on staying connected to his friends on his BB. But there was a nemesis in waiting called iPhone.
In a news piece by Interesting Engineering, by 2010, BlackBerry had 50 per cent of the U.S. smartphone market and 20 per cent of the global market.
“The company was selling more than 50 million devices per year, but a spoiler was waiting in the wings, called the iPhone, and by 2011, it had toppled BlackBerry from the top spot. In 2016, BlackBerry announced that it would no longer manufacture its iconic devices,” wrote IE.
Apple’s iPhone first appeared on the shelves in 2007 and as of the end of 2021, according to Statista, iPhone has gained more than 15% of the mobile phone market and competition favourable with other android phone makers. As of January 3, 2022, Apple’s market value was $3 trillion rising from $2 trillion that it was in August 2020
According to CNN, Apple shares were up nearly 35% in 2021. The company has benefited from booming demand for its new iPhone 13 and other older models as well as subscription services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud and its popular App Store.
What went wrong with BlackBerry?
Considering the sudden change of fortune for RIM/BlackBerry, many may be wondering what went wrong. While Apple and Google made smartphones accessible to end-users, providing them with increased screen real estate, user-friendly interfaces, and multiple apps, BlackBerry continued to focus on its enterprise customers. When those enterprise customers allowed their employees to use their own devices at work, BlackBerries started disappearing, being replaced by Android devices and iPhones.
BlackBerry’s next misstep was not making its apps available on other platforms. The company’s most popular app, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), would only run on BlackBerry devices, which eventually allowed third-party messaging apps such as WhatsApp, which was released in 2009, to rise.
While iPhone and other smartphone competitors were releasing updated versions of their products every year, BlackBerry was dillydallying under the illusion of being a market mover and when it woke to its consciousness, it has lost the market share. In the fourth quarter of 2016, 432 million smartphones were sold worldwide, however, only 207,900 of these were BlackBerries, giving the company 0 per cent market share. That year, the Chinese consumer-electronic company TCL purchased the BlackBerry phone brand.
From mobile phones to automobile security
In late 2013, BlackBerry brought in John Chen as CEO, and the company pivoted to becoming a software and services provider. Today, BlackBerry is providing software for cybersecurity, critical event management, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The company used its enterprise security products to enter the automotive arena with its QNX operating system. In the automotive software market, BlackBerry partnered with Baidu, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. By the middle of 2021, BlackBerry automotive software was embedded in more than 195 million vehicles, such as BMW, Ford, GM, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The software is used in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Digital Cockpits and Secure Data Gateways.
