126-466: BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion or RIM for short) is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers , smartphones , and tablets . The company transitioned to providing software and services and holds critical software application patents. Initially leading the mobile phone and pager industry in
252-586: A Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform. Research In Motion Limited was founded in March 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin . At the time, Lazaridis was an engineering student at the University of Waterloo while Fregin was an engineering student at the University of Windsor . In 1988, RIM became the first wireless data technology developer in North America and the first company outside
378-468: A camera . The Pearl series was highly successful, as was the subsequent Curve 8300 and Bold 9000 series. Extensive carrier partnerships fueled the rapid expansion of BlackBerry users globally in both enterprise and consumer markets. Despite the arrival of the first Apple iPhone in 2007, BlackBerry sustained market share growth well into 2011. The introduction of Apple 's iPhone on the AT&;T network in
504-405: A monochrome display while newer models installed color displays. All newer models have been optimized for " thumbing ", the use of only the thumbs to type on a keyboard. The Storm 1 and Storm 2 include a SureType keypad for typing. Originally, system navigation was achieved with the use of a scroll wheel mounted on the right side of device models prior to the 8700. The trackwheel was replaced by
630-468: A 10% equity stake in BlackBerry, made an offer to acquire BlackBerry for $ 4.7 billion (at $ 9.00 per share). Following the announcement, BlackBerry announced an acceptance of the offer provisionally but it would continue to seek other offers until November 4, 2013. On November 4, 2013, BlackBerry replaced Thorsten Heins with new interim CEO John S. Chen , the former CEO of Sybase . On November 8,
756-582: A 50 percent rise in the company's stock, an increase that was greater than peer companies such as Apple and Google; however, an analysis of BlackBerry's financial results showed that neither revenue or profit margin were improved, but, instead, costs were markedly reduced. During the same period, BlackBerry also introduced the new Passport handset—consisting of a 4.5-inch (11 cm) square screen with "Full HD-class" (1,440 x 1,440) resolution and marketed to professional fields such as healthcare and architecture—promoted its Messenger app and released minor updates for
882-977: A BlackBerry Store opened in Farmington Hills, Michigan . The store offers BlackBerry device models from AT&T , T-Mobile , Verizon , and Sprint , the major U.S. carriers which offer smartphones . There were three prior attempts at opening BlackBerry stores in Toronto ( Canada ) and London ( United Kingdom ), but they eventually folded. There are also BlackBerry Stores operated by Wireless Giant at airports in Atlanta , Boston , Charlotte , Minneapolis–St. Paul , Philadelphia , Houston , and Newark , but several have been slated for closing. On September 23, 2015, BlackBerry opened its first pop-up store in Frankfurt , Germany . Motorola Motorola, Inc. ( / ˌ m oʊ t ə ˈ r oʊ l ə / )
1008-529: A French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit was headquartered in Anaheim, California. The deal closed in April 2009. The unit became part of Sagem Morpho , which was renamed MorphoTrak . On March 26, 2008, Motorola's board of directors approved a split into two different publicly traded companies. This came after talk of selling the company to another corporation. These new companies would comprise
1134-708: A ban on the use of water that lasted three days and affected almost 5000 people in the area. Motorola was found to be the main source of the TCE, an industrial solvent that is thought to cause cancer. The TCE contamination was caused by a faulty blower on an air stripping tower that was used to take TCE from the water, and Motorola has attributed the situation to operator error. Of eighteen leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace 's Guide to Greener Electronics (October 2010), Motorola shared sixth place with competitors Panasonic and Sony . Motorola scored relatively well on
1260-428: A combined 86% of Q1 2022 earnings ($ 174 million). Chen reiterated: "Now, we are pivoting the organization more heavily toward the market by creating two business units, Cybersecurity and IoT… we will provide revenue and gross margin by business unit as well as other selected metrics." On January 4, 2022, BlackBerry decommissioned the infrastructure and operating system used by their non-Android phones. In October 2023,
1386-478: A contract for more than 10'000 BlackBerry Z10 for Peugeot SA . On February 26, 2014, during Mobile World Congress , Airbus signed a contract with BlackBerry Europe Managing Director, Herve Liboureau, for the BlackBerry 10 entire Mobility Management suite. In early July 2014, the TechCrunch online publication published an article titled "BlackBerry Is One Of The Hottest Stocks Of 2014, Seriously", following
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#17327914950451512-751: A dual camera setup and incorporates features such as portrait mode and optical zoom. In August 2018, after the launch of the BlackBerry Key2, Optiemus Infracom announced the launch of the BlackBerry Evolve and Evolve X smartphones for the Indian market sold exclusively on Amazon India. The smartphones have been conceptualized, designed and manufactured in India. As of 2019, BB Merah Putih's website has been repurposed, with BlackBerry Limited stating that only technical support will be offered for
1638-615: A fingerprint sensor. In October 2016, it was announced that BlackBerry will be working with the Ford Motor Company of Canada to develop software for the car manufacturer's connected vehicles. In February 2017, a $ 20m class action lawsuit against BlackBerry was announced by the former employees of the company. In March 2017, BB Merah Putih announced the BlackBerry Aurora, an Indonesian-made and sold device, running an operating system based on Android 7.0 out of
1764-550: A further 4,000 job cuts in June and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later. In July 2008, a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc. 's iPhone . The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale. Also that month, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $ 500 million" for selling its handset business. Analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take
1890-670: A keyboard-slider smartphone utilizing the Android operating system with BlackBerry-developed software enhancements, including a secure bootloader, full-disk encryption, integrity protection, and the BlackBerry HUB. In 2020, BlackBerry signed a new licensing agreement for smartphones with the US-based startup company, OnwardMobility. The company never released a device before shutting down in 2022. As of June 2021, Cybersecurity ($ 107 million) and IoT ($ 43 million) revenue accounted for
2016-560: A more central player in the early stages of the GSM standardization process in 1987. With this addition Motorola strengthened its position in Europe significantly. As Motorola's European development arm, Storno developed a GSM terminal in 1992. On January 29, 1988, Motorola sold its Arcade, New York facility and automotive alternators, electromechanical speedometers and tachometers products to Prestolite Electric . In 1996, Motorola released
2142-494: A net loss of US$ 125 million (the last loss before this occurred in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2005). RIM's loss of market share accelerated in 2011, due to the rapidly growing sales of Samsung and HTC Android handsets; RIM's annual market share in the U.S. dropped to just 3 percent, from 9 percent. In the quarter ended June 28, 2012, RIM announced that the number of BlackBerry subscribers had reached 78 million globally. Furthermore, RIM reported its first quarter revenue for
2268-595: A new joint venture company called BB Merah Putih to "source, distribute, and market BlackBerry handsets in Indonesia". On October 25, 2016, BlackBerry released the BlackBerry DTEK60 , the second device in the DTEK series, manufactured and designed by TCL . The device features a 5.5-inch Quad-HD touch screen display running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor with support for Quick Charge 3.0, USB Type-C, and
2394-699: A new system that was more in line with the user experiences of Android and iOS platforms. In 2015, BlackBerry began releasing Android-based smartphones, beginning with the BlackBerry Priv . BlackBerry , a comedy-drama film about the rise and fall of BlackBerry, was released in 2023. Research in Motion (RIM), founded in Waterloo, Ontario , first developed the Inter@ctive Pager 900, announced on September 18, 1996. The Inter@ctive Pager 900
2520-563: A physical keyboard was "coming shortly". The same day, BlackBerry unveiled a mid-range Android model with only an on-screen keyboard, the BlackBerry DTEK50 , powered by the then latest version of Android Marshmallow (version 6.0). (The Priv could be upgraded to the same version of the Android operating system as well.) This device featured a 5.2-inch full high-definition (or in other words, a FHD), display. BlackBerry chief security officer David Kleidermacher stressed data security during
2646-460: A punitive measure due to the willful nature of the infringement. He also instructed RIM to pay NTP's legal fees of US$ 4.5 million and issued an injunction ordering RIM to cease and desist infringing the patents—this decision would have resulted in the closure of BlackBerry's systems in the US. RIM appealed all of the findings of the court. The injunction and other remedies were stayed pending the outcome of
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#17327914950452772-427: A series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure." Between 2010 and 2013, the stock price of the company dropped by 87 percent due to the widespread popularity of the iPhone. Goldman Sachs estimated that, in June 2014, BlackBerry accounted for 1 percent share of smartphone sales, compared to a peak of around 20 percent in 2009. With the release of its financial results for
2898-484: A settlement. On February 9, 2006, the US Department of Defense (DOD) filed a brief stating that an injunction shutting down the BlackBerry service while excluding government users was unworkable. The DOD also stated that the BlackBerry was crucial for national security given the large number of government users. On February 9, 2006, RIM announced that it had developed software workarounds that would not infringe
3024-594: A single year Android had passed the installed base of the BlackBerry in the United States. By February 2016, only 1.59 million (0.8%) of the 198.9 million smartphone users in the United States were running BlackBerry compared to 104.82 million (52.7%) running Android. While RIM's secure encrypted network was attractive to corporate customers, their handsets were sometimes considered less attractive to consumers than iPhone and Android smartphones. Developers often developed consumer applications for those platforms and not
3150-759: The BlackBerry KeyOne —which was known for having a physical keyboard below its 4.5 inch touchscreen and a long battery life—and was the last device to be designed internally by BlackBerry. Also in 2017, BlackBerry Mobile, under their partner license agreements, released the BlackBerry Aurora , BlackBerry KeyOne L/E BLACK, and the BlackBerry Motion . In June 2018, the BlackBerry Key2 was launched in international markets, and in India by licensee Optiemus Infracom. The Key2 sports
3276-438: The BlackBerry Priv , a slider, with a German made camera lens with 18 megapixels, phablet that utilizes the Android operating system with additional security and productivity-oriented features inspired by the BlackBerry operating systems. However, BlackBerry COO Marty Beard told Bloomberg that "The company's never said that we would not build another BB10 device." On July 26, 2016, the company hinted that another model with
3402-835: The Motorola Droid , was released in 2009 (the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division, along with the cable set-top box and modem businesses, were later spun off into Motorola Mobility. Motorola was founded in Chicago, Illinois , as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street) in 1928. Paul Galvin wanted a brand name for Galvin Manufacturing Corporation's new car radio, and created
3528-581: The Motorola StarMax , which was a Macintosh clone that was licensed by Apple and it came with System 7 . However, with the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997, Apple released Mac OS 8 . Because the clone makers' licenses were valid only for Apple's System 7 operating system, Apple's release of Mac OS 8 left the clone manufacturers unable to ship a current Mac OS version without negotiation with Apple. A heated telephone conversation between Jobs and then Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin resulted in
3654-611: The Nordic countries to develop connectivity products for Mobitex wireless packet-switched data communications networks. Mobitex's wireless data transport also became RIM's first wireless data service that powered the Blackberry and Palm devices until it was phased out. In 1990, RIM introduced the DigiSync Film KeyKode Reader. In 1991, it introduced the first Mobitex protocol converter. In 1992, it introduced
3780-536: The South Asian market, and BlackBerry Mobile (a trade name of TCL Technology ) for all other markets. Historically, BlackBerry devices used a proprietary operating system—known as BlackBerry OS —developed by BlackBerry Limited. In 2013, BlackBerry introduced BlackBerry 10 , a major revamp of the platform based on the QNX operating system. BlackBerry 10 was meant to replace the aging BlackBerry OS platform with
3906-502: The Texas -based startup OnwardMobility signed a new licensing agreement with BlackBerry Limited to develop a new 5G BlackBerry smartphone. OnwardMobility was cooperating with BlackBerry Limited and FIH Mobile (a subsidiary of Foxconn ) as they "sought to revitalize the iconic BlackBerry brand through an Android-based, next-gen Wi-Fi device." However, in a statement released on February 18, 2022, OnwardMobility said that not only would
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4032-437: The druplets of the blackberry fruit, the device could receive push email from a Microsoft Exchange Server using its complementary server software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). Its introduction set the stage for the company's future enterprise -oriented products, such as the BlackBerry 957 in April 2000, the first BlackBerry smartphone. The BlackBerry OS platform and BES continued to increase in functionality, while
4158-466: The " rocket docket ", and is particularly efficient at trying patent cases. The jury eventually found that the NTP patents were valid; furthermore, the jury established that RIM had infringed the patents in a "willful" manner, and the infringement had cost NTP US$ 33 million in damages (the greater of a reasonable royalty or lost profits). The judge, James R. Spencer , increased the damages to US$ 53 million as
4284-476: The 1980s and 90s, the company struggled to gain a lasting presence in the smartphone market of the new millennium. BlackBerry led the market in many countries, particularly the United States, until 2010, with the announcement of the iPhone 4 . The company withered against the rapid rise of Apple and Android . After the troubled launch of the BlackBerry 10 , it transitioned to a cybersecurity enterprise software and services company under CEO John S. Chen . In 2018,
4410-512: The 2013 fiscal year, showing that the company incurred a GAAP net loss of US$ 518 million for the quarter, and announced a plan to implement a US$ 1 billion cost-saving initiative. The company also announced the delay of the new BlackBerry 10 OS until the first quarter of 2013. After the release of the Apple iPhone 5 in September 2012, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the number of global users
4536-418: The 58.7 million American smartphones. BlackBerry then began to decline in use in the United States, with Apple's installed base in the United States finally passing it in April 2011. Sales of the iPhone continued to accelerate, as did the smartphone market, while the BlackBerry began to lose users continuously in the United States. By February 2016, only 1.59 million (0.8%) of the 198.9 million smartphone users in
4662-474: The 950, the 850 was the first device to integrate email and the name Inter@ctive Pager was no longer used to brand the device. The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany. BlackBerry was a solution devised by RIM for delivering e-mail over several different wireless networks. The name BlackBerry was coined by the marketing company Lexicon Branding . The name
4788-555: The BB10 mobile operating system. On December 17, 2014, the BlackBerry Classic was introduced; it is meant to be more in line with the former Bold series, incorporating navigation buttons similar to the previous BlackBerry OS devices. When it was discontinued in June 2016, it was the last BlackBerry with a keyboard that dominates the front of the phone in the classic style. In September 2015, BlackBerry officially unveiled
4914-492: The BlackBerry board rejected proposals from several technology companies for various BlackBerry assets on grounds that a break-up did not serve the interest of all stakeholders, which include employees, customers and suppliers in addition to shareholders, said the sources, who did not want to be identified as the discussions were confidential. On November 13, 2013, Chen released an open message: "We are committed to reclaiming our success." On December 17, 2013, BlackBerry announced
5040-453: The BlackBerry brand at the centre" of the company's diverse brands, and because customers in some markets "already know the company as BlackBerry". A shareholder vote on an official name change to BlackBerry Limited was held at its next annual general meeting , after its ticker symbols on the TSX and NASDAQ already were changed to BB and BBRY respectively on February 4, 2013. On August 12, 2013,
5166-437: The BlackBerry user base peaked at approximately 21 million users in the fall of 2010. That quarter, the company's global subscriber base stood at 36 million users. As the iPhone and Google Android accelerated growth in the United States, the BlackBerry began to turn to other smartphone platforms. Nonetheless, the BlackBerry line as a whole continued to enjoy success, spurred on by strong international growth. As of December 1, 2012,
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5292-424: The BlackBerry. During 2010s, even enterprise customers had begun to adopt BYOD policies due to employee feedback. The company also faced criticism that its hardware and operating system were outdated and unappealing compared to the competition, as well as that the browsing capabilities were poorer. Slowing growth prompted the company to undertake a lay-off of 2,000 employees in the summer of 2011. In September 2011,
5418-488: The Blackberry Limited blog page stating he will cease his role on November 4, 2023. Until 2013, the number of active BlackBerry users increased over time. In the fourth quarter of fiscal year ended March 3, 2012, RIM shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones, down 21 percent from the previous quarter and it was the first decline in the quarter covering Christmas since 2006. For its fourth quarter, RIM announced
5544-741: The Enterprise of Things", BlackBerry Secure deepened the integration between BlackBerry's acquisitions and its core portfolio. According to Forbes, it brings all of BlackBerry's products "under a single umbrella". Also in February 2017, analyst firm 451 Research released a report on BlackBerry's improved financial position and product focus. The report identified BlackBerry's position in the Internet of Things and its device licensing strategy as strengths. On October 30, 2023 John S. Chen announced his resignation as CEO through an employee letter posted to
5670-470: The Indonesian devices built by the company. Additionally, the operational status of Optiemus is unknown as of September 2020, as there have not been any updates posted regarding BlackBerry products in India since 2018. In October 2023, it was announced that Blackberry Chief Operating Officer, John Chen would be leaving the company after ten years. Richard Lynch will take over as interim CEO and chair of
5796-407: The NTP patents, and would implement those if the injunction was enforced. On March 3, 2006, after a stern warning from Judge Spencer, RIM and NTP announced that they had settled their dispute. Under the terms of the settlement, RIM has agreed to pay NTP $ 612.5 million (USD) in a "full and final settlement of all claims." In a statement, RIM said that "all terms of the agreement have been finalized and
5922-564: The PlayBook. However, due to an accusation of trademark infringement regarding the name BBX, the platform was renamed BlackBerry 10. The task proved daunting, with the company delaying the launch in December 2011 to some time in 2012. On January 22, 2012, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie resigned as the CEOs of the company, handing the reins over to executive Thorsten Heins . On March 29, 2012,
6048-514: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two thirds of Motorola's gross revenue. In 1986 Motorola acquired Storno resulting in a whole new range of innovative communication products for the new owner, including the NMT , an automatic cellular phone system, and made Motorola
6174-477: The U.S. state of Illinois) included the Village of River Forest, Village of Bellwood Police Department, City of Evanston Police, Illinois State Highway Police, and Cook County (Chicago area) Police. Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for battery powered radios (during the burgeoning electrification of rural homes), through the first hand-held walkie-talkie in
6300-538: The US Federal Government. In January 2006 the US Supreme Court refused to hear RIM's appeal of the holding of liability for patent infringement, and the matter was returned to a lower court. The prior granted injunction preventing all RIM sales in the US and use of the BlackBerry device might have been enforced by the presiding district court judge had the two parties been unable to reach
6426-483: The United States were running BlackBerry compared to 87.32 million (43.9%) on an iPhone. Google's Android mobile operating system, running on hardware by a range of manufacturers including Sony , Motorola , HTC , Samsung , LG and many others ramped up the competition for BlackBerry. In January 2010, barely 3 million (7.1%) of the 42.7 million Smartphones in use at the time in the United States were running Android, compared to 18 million BlackBerry devices (43%). Within
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#17327914950456552-415: The United States, leading to negative media and analyst sentiment over the company's ability to continue independently. When Apple's iPhone was introduced in 2007, it generated substantial media attention, with numerous media outlets calling it a "BlackBerry killer". While BlackBerry sales continued to grow, the newer iPhone grew at a faster rate. The 87% drop in BlackBerry's stock price between 2010 and 2013
6678-420: The appeals. In March 2005 during appeal, RIM and NTP tried to negotiate a settlement of their dispute; the settlement was to be for $ 450 million. Negotiations broke down due to other issues. On June 10, 2005, the matter returned to the courts. In early November 2005 the US Department of Justice filed a brief requesting that RIM's service be allowed to continue because of the large number of BlackBerry users in
6804-560: The board. In 2000 NTP sent notice of its wireless email patents to a number of companies and offered to license the patents to them. NTP brought a patent-infringement lawsuit against one of the companies, Research In Motion, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia . This court is well known for its strict adherence to timetables and deadlines, sometimes referred to as
6930-512: The box. In March 2018, it was announced that BlackBerry would be working with Jaguar Land Rover to develop software for the car manufacturer's vehicles. In June 2018, BlackBerry in partnership with TCL Mobile and Optiemus Infracom launched the KEY2 at a global launch in New York. This is the third device to sport a keyboard while running Google's Android OS. In 2017, BlackBerry Mobile released
7056-531: The business units of Motorola Mobile Devices and Motorola Broadband & Mobility Solutions. Originally it was expected that this action would be approved by regulatory bodies and complete by mid-2009, but the split was delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008–2009 extreme economic downturn. On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced it would separate into two independent, publicly traded companies. The cell phone and cable television equipment businesses would spin off to form Motorola Mobility , while
7182-479: The cause of the service disruptions. The outage intensified calls by shareholders for a shake-up in the company's leadership. Some estimates by BlackBerry are that the company lost between $ 50 million to $ 54 million due to global email service failure and outage in 2011. Many BlackBerry retail stores operated outside North America , such as in Thailand , Indonesia , United Arab Emirates . In December 2007
7308-541: The chemicals criteria and has a goal to eliminate PVC plastic and Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), though only in mobile devices and not in all its products introduced after 2010, despite the fact that Sony Ericsson and Nokia were already there. All of its mobile phones were now PVC-free and it had two PVC and BFR-free mobile phones, the A45 ECO and the GRASP; all chargers were also free from PVC and BFRs. The company
7434-408: The companies. Though Apple's iPhone sales declined to 4.3 million in the subsequent quarter and RIM's increased to 7.8 million, for some investors this was a sign of weakness. The iPhone began to sell more phones quarterly than the BlackBerry in 2010, brought on by the release of the iPhone 4 . In the United States, the BlackBerry hit its peak in September 2010, with almost 22 million users, or 37% of
7560-427: The company announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by a consortium led by Prem Watsa -owned Fairfax Financial Holdings for a $ 9 per share deal. This deal was also confirmed by Watsa. On September 29, 2013, the company began operating a direct sales model for customers in the United States, where unlocked Q10 and Z10 smartphones were sold directly from the BlackBerry website. On October 15, 2013,
7686-432: The company announced that it was open to being purchased. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's CEO Mark Wiseman stated that he would consider investing in BlackBerry if the company became private. Also on August 12, 2013, foremost shareholder Prem Watsa resigned from BlackBerry's board. On September 20, 2013, the company announced it would lay off 4,500 staff and take a CAD$ 1 billion operating loss. Three days later,
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#17327914950457812-491: The company announced that it would spin off its IoT business unit and hold an initial public offering for it in the next year. During this time, BlackBerry also expanded its software and services offerings with several acquisitions. These included file security firm WatchDox , crisis communications leader AtHoc, and rival EMM vendor Good Technology. The products offered by these firms were gradually re-branded and integrated into BlackBerry's own portfolio. BlackBerry also announced
7938-407: The company had 79 million BlackBerry users globally with only 9 million remaining in the United States. Even as the company continued to grow worldwide, investors and media became increasingly alarmed about the company's ability to compete with devices from rival mobile operating systems iOS and Android. CNN cited BlackBerry as one of six endangered US-Canadian brands. Analysts were also worried about
8064-557: The company published an open letter in 30 publications in nine countries to reassure customers that BlackBerry would continue to operate. Anthony Michael Sabino, St. John's University business professor, stated in the Washington Post : "This is BlackBerry's last-ditch attempt to simply survive in the face of crushing competition in a market it essentially invented." On November 4, 2013, the Fairfax Prem Watsa deal
8190-551: The company reported a profit of $ 162 million, which compared very favorably to the $ 26 million earned for the same period the year before. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of $ 87 million. Motorola, Inc., along with the Arizona Water Co. had been identified as the sources of trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona . The malfunction led to
8316-515: The company reported its first net loss in years. Heins set about the task of restructuring the company, including announcing plans to lay off 5,000 employees, replacing numerous executives, and delaying BlackBerry 10 a second time into January 2013. After much criticism and numerous delays, RIM officially launched BlackBerry 10 and two new smartphones based on the platform, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 , on January 30, 2013. The BlackBerry Z10,
8442-720: The company to embrace a multi-platform, BYOD world by adopting a new mobility management platform and a new device strategy," Chen explained in an open letter published shortly after his appointment. "I believe in the value of this brand. With the right team and the right strategy in place, I am confident that we will rebuild BlackBerry for the benefit of all our constituencies." In April 2014, Chen spoke of his turnaround strategy in an interview with Reuters, explaining that he intended to invest in or partner with other companies in regulated industries such as healthcare, financial, and legal services. He later clarified that BlackBerry's device division remained part of his strategy and that his company
8568-500: The company was "no longer just about the smartphone, but the smart in the phone". On December 15, 2016, BlackBerry announced that it had reached a long-term deal with TCL to continue producing BlackBerry-branded smartphones for sale outside of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. This partnership was followed by an agreement with Optiemus Infracom on February 6, 2017, to produce devices throughout India and neighbouring markets including Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Since
8694-464: The company's BlackBerry Internet Service suffered a massive outage, impacting millions of customers for several days. The outage embarrassingly occurred as Apple prepared to launch the iPhone 4S, causing fears of mass defections from the platform. Shortly afterwards, in October 2011, RIM unveiled BBX, a new platform for future BlackBerry smartphones that would be based on the same QNX-based platform as
8820-493: The company's management structure. Following numerous attempts to upgrade its existing Java platform, the company acquired QNX Software Systems to upgrade the BlackBerry platform, centered around its recently acquired real-time operating system QNX. In March 2011, then-co-CEO Jim Balsillie suggested during a conference call that the "launch of some powerful new BlackBerrys" (eventually released as BlackBerry 10 ) would be in early 2012. However, analysts were "worried that promoting
8946-508: The design and distribution of the product. A New York Times analysis stated that the model was an attempt by Chen to generate revenue while he tried "to shift the organization's focus to services and software." As part of the localization effort for the promotion of the Z3, the handset's back panel was engraved with the word "Jakarta", but skepticism still emerged, as the handset was still more than twice as expensive as Android models in Indonesia at
9072-412: The development of the new BlackBerry device not be moving forward, but the company itself would be shutting down, as well. On November 24, 2010, Research In Motion (RIM) removed Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World and limited the functionality of the software for its users. RIM also sued Kik Interactive for patent infringement and misuse of trademarks . In October 2013, the companies settled
9198-572: The device and agreed to a $ 70-million deal that involved the supply of 100,000 devices. The pager started shipping in August 1998. About the size of a bar of soap, this device competed against the Skytel two-way paging network developed by Motorola . In 1999, RIM introduced the BlackBerry 850 pager. This was also the first device to use the Blackberry OS. Named after its keyboard's similarity to
9324-465: The division off the company's hands, and that Motorola may even exit the handset market altogether. Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007 the company had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009, but at last, Motorola scored a profit of $ 26 million in Q2 and showed an increase of 12% in stocks for the first time after losses in many quarters. During the second quarter of 2010,
9450-474: The fall of 2007 in the United States prompted RIM to produce its first touchscreen smartphone for the competing network in 2008—the BlackBerry Storm . It sold well but suffered from mixed to poor reviews and poor customer satisfaction. The iPhone initially lagged behind BlackBerry in both shipments and active users, due to RIM's head start and larger carrier distribution network. In the United States,
9576-453: The famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon on a Motorola transceiver. In 1973, Motorola demonstrated the first hand-held portable telephone. In 1974, Motorola introduced its first microprocessor, the 8-bit MC6800 , used in automotive, computing and video game applications. The 6800 was the basis for the more popular MOS Technology 6502 which
9702-525: The first BlackBerry smartphone running BlackBerry 10, debuted worldwide in January 2013, going on sale immediately in the U.K. with other countries following. A marked departure from previous BlackBerry phones, the Z10 featured a fully touch-based design, a dual-core processor, and a high-definition display. BlackBerry 10 had 70,000 applications available at launch, which the company expected would rise to 100,000 by
9828-484: The first Mobitex point-of-sale solution, a protocol converter box that interfaced with existing point-of-sale terminal equipment to enable wireless communication. In 1993, it introduced the RIMGate, the first general-purpose Mobitex X.25 gateway. In the same year, it launched Ericsson Mobidem AT and Intel wireless modems containing RIM modem firmware. In 1994, it introduced the first Mobitex mobile point-of-sale terminal. In
9954-467: The first fiscal quarter of 2015 in June 2014, Chen presented a more stable company that had incurred a lower amount of loss than previous quarters. The New York Times described "a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss." Following the news release, Chen stated that BlackBerry was comfortable with its position, and it is understood that his plan for the company mainly involves businesses and governments, rather than consumers. BlackBerry BlackBerry
10080-477: The incorporation of encryption and S/MIME support helped BlackBerry devices gain increased usage by governments and businesses. During fiscal 1999-2001, RIM's assets grew eight-fold due to massive capacity expansion. RIM soon began to introduce BlackBerry devices for the consumer market as well, beginning with the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 —the first BlackBerry phone to include multimedia features such as
10206-565: The intellectual property of Sendo for $ 30,000 and paid £362,575 for the plant, machinery and equipment. In June 2006, Motorola acquired the software platform ( AJAR ) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc. Later in 2006, the firm announced a music subscription service named iRadio . The technology came after a break in a partnership with Apple Computer (which in 2005 had produced an iTunes compatible cell phone ROKR E1 , and most recently, mid-2007, its own iPhone ). iRadio
10332-406: The interim arbitration decision announced on April 12, 2017. Following a joint stipulation by the parties, the arbitration panel has issued a final award providing for the payment by Qualcomm to BlackBerry of a total amount of U.S.$ 940,000,000 including interest and attorneys' fees, net of certain royalties due from BlackBerry for calendar 2016 and the first quarter of calendar 2017. In summer 2020,
10458-400: The inventory value by $ 485 million. BlackBerry's primary competitors were smartphones running Android OS, and the Apple iPhone. For a number of years, the BlackBerry was the leading smartphone in many markets, particularly the United States. The arrival of the iPhone and later Google's Android platform caused a slowdown in BlackBerry growth and a decline in sales in some markets, most notably
10584-543: The last BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Key2 LE , was released. In 2022, BlackBerry discontinued support for BlackBerry 10, ending their presence in the smartphone market. BlackBerry's software products are used by various businesses, car manufacturers, and government agencies to prevent hacking and ransomware attacks. They include BlackBerry Cylance, the QNX real-time operating system; BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Manager), and
10710-537: The launch, indicating that this model included built-in malware protection and encryption of all user information. Industry observers pointed out that the DTEK50 is a re-branded version of the Alcatel Idol 4 with additional security-oriented software customizations, manufactured and designed by TCL . In September 2016, BlackBerry Limited agreed to a licensing partnership with an Indonesian company to set up
10836-443: The lawsuit, with the terms undisclosed. In 2018 it was reported that BlackBerry would be filing legal action against Facebook over perceived intellectual property infringements within both Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp as well as with Instagram . They settled for an undisclosed amount on the 15th of January 2021. At various stages of the company's history it suffered occasional service outages that have been referred to in
10962-486: The litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief." The settlement amount is believed low by some analysts, because of the absence of any future royalties on the technology in question. On May 26, 2017, BlackBerry announced that it had reached an agreement with Qualcomm Incorporated resolving all amounts payable in connection with
11088-540: The market due to the success of the Android and iOS platforms; its numbers had fallen to 23 million in March 2016, a decline of almost three-quarters. On September 28, 2016, BlackBerry Limited announced it would cease designing its own BlackBerry devices in favor of licensing to partners to design, manufacture, and market. The original licensors were BB Merah Putih for the Indonesian market, Optiemus Infracom for
11214-409: The media as "embarrassing". In 2005 the company suffered a relatively short-term outage reportedly among a small handful of North America carriers. The service was restored after several hours. In 2007 the e-mail service suffered an outage which led for calls by some questioning the integrity towards BlackBerry's perceived centralized system. In 2009 the company had an outage reportedly covering
11340-531: The mysterious, supposedly game-changing devices too early might hurt sales of existing BlackBerrys" (similar to the Osborne effect ). The initial launch date was seen in retrospect as too ambitious and hurt the company's credibility at a time when its existing aging products steadily lost market share. On September 27, 2010, RIM announced the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the first product running on
11466-680: The name "Motorola" by linking "motor" (from motor car) with "ola" (from Victrola ), which was also a popular ending for many companies at the time, e.g. Moviola , Crayola . The company sold its first Motorola branded radio on June 23, 1930, to Herbert C. Wall of Fort Wayne, Indiana, for $ 30. The Motorola brand name became so well known that Galvin Manufacturing Corporation later changed its name to Motorola, Inc., in 1947. Galvin Manufacturing Corporation began selling Motorola car-radio receivers to police departments and municipalities in November 1930. The company's first public safety customers (all in
11592-409: The new QNX platform known as BlackBerry Tablet OS . The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to U.S. and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011. It was criticized for being rushed to market in an incomplete state, and sold poorly. Following the shipments of 900,000 tablets during its first three quarters on market, slow sales and inventory pileups prompted the company to reduce prices and write down
11718-403: The number one in the world", while Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben proclaimed "It could be the greatest comeback in tech history. The carriers are behind us. They don't want a duopoly" (referring to Apple and Samsung). During the BlackBerry 10 launch event, the company also announced that it would change its public brand from Research In Motion to BlackBerry. The name change was made to "put
11844-480: The pager prototype with the support of Intel Corporation. The company worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn the Ericsson-developed Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network . Pivotal in this development was the release of the Inter@ctive Pager 950. In August 1997, a prototype was presented to BellSouth executives, who were impressed with
11970-475: The partnerships were announced, TCL released the BlackBerry KeyOne and BB Merah Putih released the BlackBerry Aurora. In February 2016, BlackBerry acquired UK-based cybersecurity firm Encription, with the intention of branching out into the security consulting business. On December 8, 2016, BlackBerry announced the release of BlackBerry Secure. Billed as a "comprehensive mobile security platform for
12096-612: The proceeds being used to complete the development of RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. A total of C$ 30,000,000 in pre-IPO financing was raised by the company prior to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January 1998 under the symbol RIM. In 1996, RIM introduced the Interactive Pager, the first two-way messaging pager, and the RIM 900 OEM radio modem. The company developed
12222-449: The promise of BlackBerry is to its user base it's all about getting stuff done. Games, media, we have to be good at it but we have to support those guys who are ahead of the game. Very little time to consume and enjoy content—if you stay true to that purpose you have to build on that basis. And if we want to serve that segment we can't do it on a me-too approach." Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear remarked "We want to regain our position as
12348-657: The release of the Good Secure EMM Suites, consolidating WatchDox and Good Technology's products into several tiered offerings alongside its existing software. BlackBerry announced the DTeK 50, a mid-range Android smartphone, on July 26, 2016. Unlike the Priv, the DTek50 was a re-branded version of an existing smartphone, the Alcatel Idol 4 as manufactured by TCL Corporation , one of the company's hardware partners. It
12474-514: The release of the Z10 and Q10 smartphones. Both models consisted of touch screens: the Z10 features an all-touch design and the Q10 combines a QWERTY keyboard with touchscreen features. On March 5, 2013, BlackBerry announced the signature of a large contract to secure German government Data and Voice communications. Angela Merkel signed the contract publicly and appeared at Cebit along with BlackBerry Europe Managing Director, Herve Liboureau. During
12600-414: The remainder of Motorola, Inc., which comprised the government and enterprise equipment businesses, would become Motorola Solutions . The split was closed on January 4, 2011. Motorola Mobility was eventually acquired by Google on May 22, 2012. Google later sold Motorola Mobility's cable equipment business to Arris Group in December 2012, and Motorola Mobility itself to Lenovo on October 30, 2014. At
12726-568: The same year, it received the Emmy Award for Technical Innovation and the KPMG High Technology Award. In 1995, it introduced Freedom, the first Type II PCMCIA radio modem for Mobitex. In 1995, RIM was financed by Canadian institutional and venture capital investors through a private placement in the privately held company. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. led the first venture round with a C$ 5,000,000 investment with
12852-709: The second financial quarter of 2013, BlackBerry sold 6.8 million handsets, but was eclipsed by the sales of competitor Nokia's Lumia model for the first time. On August 12, 2013, BlackBerry announced the intention to sell the company due to their increasingly unfavorable financial position and competition in the mobile industry. Largely due to lower than expected sales on the Z10 , BlackBerry announced on September 20, 2013, that 4,500 full- and part-time positions (an estimated 40% of its operating staff) have been terminated and its product line has been reduced from six to four models. On September 23, 2013, Fairfax Financial , which owns
12978-623: The termination of Motorola's clone contract, the discontinuation of the Motorola StarMax, and the long-favored Apple being demoted to "just another customer" mainly for PowerPC CPUs. Apple (and Jobs) did not want Motorola to limit the PowerPC CPU supply so as retaliation, Apple and IBM expelled Motorola from the AIM alliance and forced Motorola to stop producing any PowerPC CPUs, leaving IBM to make all future PowerPC CPUs. However, Motorola
13104-418: The time of its split, Motorola had three divisions: Motorola's handset division recorded a loss of $ 1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, while the company as a whole earned $ 100 million during that quarter. It lost several key executives to rivals, and the website TrustedReviews called the company's products repetitive and un-innovative. Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008, followed by
13230-407: The time of release. In the first quarter of the 2015 fiscal year, Chen stated: "This is, of course, the very beginning of our task and we hope that we will be able to report better results going forward… We feel pretty good about where we are." Quartz reported that stock was up by 30 percent, compared to the same period in the previous year. In September 2015, Chen unveiled the BlackBerry Priv ,
13356-485: The time the device made its debut in the United States. In support of the launch, the company aired its first Super Bowl television advertisement in the U.S. and Canada during Super Bowl XLVII . In discussing the decision to create a proprietary operating system instead of adopting an off-the-shelf platform such as Android, Heins noted, "If you look at other suppliers' ability to differentiate, there's very little wiggle room. We looked at it seriously—but if you understand what
13482-515: The trackball with the introduction of the Pearl series, which allowed four-way scrolling. The trackball was replaced by the optical trackpad with the introduction of the Curve 8500 series. Models made to use iDEN networks, such as Nextel , SouthernLINC , NII Holdings , and Mike also incorporate a push-to-talk (PTT) feature, similar to a two-way radio . On January 30, 2013, BlackBerry announced
13608-452: The value of World War II military production contracts. Motorola went public in 1943, and became Motorola, Inc. in 1947. At that time Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios. The last plant was listed in Quincy, Illinois at 1400 North 30th Street where 1,200 employees made radio assemblies for both homes and automobiles. In 1969, Neil Armstrong spoke
13734-744: The whole of North America. At 2011-10-10 10:00 UTC began a multi-day outage in Europe, the Middle East and Africa , affecting millions of BlackBerry users. There was another outage the following day. By October 12, 2011, the BlackBerry Internet Service went down in North America. Research In Motion attributed data overload due to switch failures in their two data centres in Waterloo in Canada and Slough in England as
13860-530: The world in 1940, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. In the same year, the company built its research and development program with Dan Noble , a pioneer in FM radio and semiconductor technologies, who joined the company as director of research. The company produced the hand-held AM SCR-536 radio during World War II , which was vital to Allied communication. Motorola ranked 94th among United States corporations in
13986-683: The world's first commercial GPRS cellular network to BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom. Motorola also developed the world's first GPRS cell phone. In August 2000, Motorola acquired Printrak International Inc. for $ 160 million. In doing so, Motorola not only acquired computer aided dispatch and related software, but also acquired Automated fingerprint identification system software. With recent acquisitions from that year, Motorola reached its peak employment of 150,000 employees worldwide. Two years later, employment would be at 93,000 due to layoffs and spinoffs. In June 2005, Motorola overtook
14112-498: Was a clamshell -type device that allowed two-way paging. After the success of the 900, the Inter@ctive Pager 800 was created for IBM, which bought US$ 10 million worth of them on February 4, 1998. The next device to be released was the Inter@ctive Pager 950, on August 26, 1998. The first device to carry the BlackBerry name was the BlackBerry 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999. Although identical in appearance to
14238-676: Was a maker of smartphones and other related mobile services and devices. The line was originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research In Motion, or RIM) from 1999 to 2016, after which it was licensed to various companies. Specializing in secure communications and mobile productivity, BlackBerry was once well known for the keyboards on most of its devices and software services that ran through its own servers. At its peak in September 2011, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. However, BlackBerry lost its dominant position in
14364-793: Was a pioneer in cellular telephones. Also known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the "mobile phone" with the first truly mobile "brick phone" DynaTAC , "flip phone" with the MicroTAC as well as the "clam phone" with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s. It had staged a resurgence by the mid-2000s with the RAZR , but lost market share in the second half of that decade. Later it focused on smartphones using Google 's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use Android 2.0 "Eclair" ,
14490-530: Was also looking to invest in "emerging solutions such as machine to machine technologies that will help power the backbone of the Internet of Things." He would later expand on this idea at a BlackBerry Security Summit in July 2014. In May 2014, the low-cost BlackBerry Z3 was introduced in the Indonesian market, where the brand had been particularly popular. The budget handset was produced in partnership with Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group , which handled
14616-500: Was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois . It was founded in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin. The company changed its name to Motorola in 1947. After having lost $ 4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, Motorola was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions , on January 4, 2011. The reorganization
14742-457: Was chosen out of about 40 potential names, because of the resemblance of the keyboard's buttons to that of the drupelets that compose the blackberry fruit, and the instant pronunciation which reflected the speed of this push email system. The original BlackBerry devices, the RIM 850 and 857, used the DataTAC network. In 2002, the more commonly known convergent BlackBerry 5810 smartphone
14868-549: Was later reinstated into the alliance in 1998. In 1998, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia as the world's biggest seller of mobile phone handsets. In 1999, Motorola separated a portion of its semiconductor business—the Semiconductor Components Group (SCG)-- and formed onsemi (then ON Semiconductor ), whose headquarters were located in Phoenix, Arizona . In June 2000, Motorola and Cisco supplied
14994-563: Was made by former Motorola employees. That same year, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based Matsushita – the parent company of Panasonic . In 1980, Motorola's next generation 32-bit microprocessor, the MC68000 , led the wave of technologies that spurred the computing revolution in 1984, powering devices from companies such as Apple , Commodore , Atari , Sun , and Hewlett-Packard . In September 1983,
15120-453: Was primarily attributed to the performance of the iPhone handset. The first three iPhone models generally lagged behind the BlackBerry in sales, as RIM had major advantages in carrier and enterprise support; however, Apple continued gaining market share. In October 2008, Apple briefly passed RIM in quarterly sales when they announced they had sold 6.9 million iPhones to the 6.1 million sold by RIM, comparing partially overlapping quarters between
15246-471: Was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing , Web browsing and other wireless information services. BlackBerry gained market share in the mobile industry by concentrating on email. BlackBerry began to offer email service on non-BlackBerry devices, such as the Palm Treo , through the proprietary BlackBerry Connect software. The original BlackBerry device had
15372-473: Was scrapped in favor of a US$ 1 billion cash injection which, according to one analyst, represented the level of confidence BlackBerry's largest shareholder had in the company. At the same time, BlackBerry installed John Chen as CEO to replace the laid-off Heins. According to the Globe and Mail, BlackBerry's hope was that Chen, with his reputation as a turnaround artist, could save the company. "We have begun moving
15498-797: Was structured with Motorola Solutions legally succeeding Motorola, Inc., and Motorola Mobility being spun off. Motorola designed and sold wireless network equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top boxes , digital video recorders , and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television . Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems (used to build private networks), and public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra . These businesses, except for set-top boxes and cable modems , became part of Motorola Solutions. Motorola's wireless telephone handset division
15624-467: Was to be the second-last phone ever developed in-house at BlackBerry, followed by the DTek60 in October 2016 – on September 28, 2016, BlackBerry announced that it would cease in-house hardware development to focus on software, delegating development, design, and manufacturing of its devices to third-party partners. The first of these partners was BB Merah Putih, a joint venture in Indonesia. Chen stated that
15750-464: Was to have many similarities with existing satellite radio services (such as Sirius and XM Radio ) by offering live streams of commercial-free music content. Unlike satellite services, however, iRadio content would be downloaded via a broadband internet connection. However, iRadio was never commercially released. Greg Brown became Motorola's chief executive officer in 2008. In October 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran ,
15876-504: Was up to 80 million, which sparked a 7% jump in shares. On December 2, 2012, the company reported a decline in the global subscriber base of BlackBerry to 79 million, after peaking at an all-time high of 80 million the previous quarter. Later that same month, media reports confirmed that BlackBerry lost US$ 1.049 billion during the second fiscal quarter of 2013. In the wake of the loss, Heins stated: "We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced
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