It vibrates particularly often in the inside pocket of the jackets of various managers. In the early 2000s, owning a BlackBerry—the status symbol for executives—was considered a cult. But what has become of the device today?
The BlackBerry, a small pocket computer, paves the way for everything to come. Because the blackberry, according to the German translation, already has everything that the iPhone and other smartphone manufacturers will later perfect. Our article explains why the BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has long presented itself as a windfall.
From pay machine to handheld computer
The Canadian company is familiar with keyboards. RIM starts its work in 1984 and initially sells cash register machines. At the same time, RIM is developing devices for data transmission.
With the start of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, the RIM developers considered making a device that could be used to receive and send digital messages, i.e. email. After all, it was not until the end of the decade that RIM presented its BlackBerry 850. The device looked more like a very small pocket calculator, but it served its purpose. It receives e-mails and synchronizes digital mailboxes and appointments automatically via the mobile network.
The mobile world is spinning at full speed during this time. Mobile telephony is now not only an option for rich snobs, but also affordable for private individuals.
BlackBerry gets phone functionality
RIM uses this development to improve its e-mail recipients. The successor, the BlackBerry 5810, followed in 2002. This model later formed the blueprint for smartphones.
The small pocket computer has a monochrome display, a keyboard and can be used to make cell phone calls. Since the synchronization of e-mails and appointments via the GPRS network now works smoothly, the device will soon be one of the most important utensils on the executive floors of large companies.
Meetings without a Blackberry, impossible. Since it is now constantly vibrating during meetings or someone is typing on their smart device, the first BlackBerry bans will soon be pronounced for the time of a meeting.
Within a very short time, the name BlackBerry became synonymous with a handy pocket computer with a telephone function. The term smartphone does not exist yet, but it would have been appropriate. At this point, the manufacturer, which has since renamed itself BlackBerry Limited, is doing everything right. Having conquered the business tier, BlackBerry is now launching devices for personal use as well.
Also read: The curious story of Nokia
BlackBerry creates its own world
The Canadian company is creating its own BlackBerry world for this. The devices get their own operating system and a messaging service, a kind of WhatsApp only for BlackBerry owners.
Above all, the chat function attracts many private users. Suddenly, quick messages can be sent and the answer appears in a few seconds on the display, which now also sparkles in bright colors.
But the BlackBerry can never do one thing: look really good. When making a call, it looks as if the owner is holding a pocket calculator to their ear. Ok, admittedly, putting a smartphone to your ear like a piece of toast to listen to a voice message doesn’t look very intelligent either.
None of this bothers users. On the contrary: At the peak of the late 2000s, over 40 million people use a BlackBerry. In the first quarter of 2009, more devices went over the counter than Apple’s new lighthouse project, the iPhone. Perhaps the BlackBerry strategists were dazzled by these numbers. Because soon the development goes in the opposite direction, and at breakneck speed. What happened?
Swipe is the new tap
The keyboard is the problem. First, doctors diagnose the so-called BlackBerry thumb. The fear at the time was that the joint could become painfully inflamed if the device was used intensively. But the BlackBerry thumb is the smallest problem.
Many people now use their thumbs to conveniently swipe across touchscreens. This is much more fun and protects the joint. A responsible BlackBerry boss is said to have claimed at the time that professional owners in particular would like to type on a real keyboard.
Today we know that the man was pretty wrong in his assessment. So holding on to the keyboard breaks the company’s neck. Of course, people are still trying to launch their own smartphones on the market. But Apple and Samsung are now ruling there.
Brand quietly disappears
Little by little BlackBerry parted with many functions. In the mid-2010s, the company finished developing its own operating system. New devices run on Android, but without success. A short time later, the production of their own devices was discontinued. As of 2016, TCL Corporation produces BlackBerry smartphones under license. But even that will end in 2020.
Today, BlackBerry only works in the field of mobile software development. After TCL left, a new licensee was found in OnwardMobility. But even this has now announced that it will no longer produce BlackBerry smartphones in the future.
The BlackBerry – once the most popular toy in business circles, is now finally irrelevant. And since the world now prefers swiping to typing, the BlackBerry thumb is easy on the joints.