BLACKBERRYS WE HAVE LOVED — AND HATED
Raju Mudhar recalls the company’s defining devices
There was a time when BlackBerry made a cutting-edge sidekick where you could BBM all your friends. You probably still have a friend or family member who is still hanging on — or been forced to by their company. There’s no doubt that the Canadian company was an international success story that truly spurred on innovation in the smartphone field — until it didn’t. Once Apple launched the iPhone, the end of BlackBerry’s devices was only a matter of time. Here’s a look back at some of the handsets that helped the company scale the mighty heights, making it a household name.
RIM 850 BlackBerry’s first device, launched in 1999, wasn’t a phone, but rather a two-way interactive pager, which featured a QWERTY keyboard, a six- or eight-line display, could send messages and was one of the first devices that could connect people to their work email systems. A hit out of the gate, it sold a million units in the company’s first year, and after three months of being available, the company’s stock doubled.
5000-6000 series Launched in 2002, these were the company’s first phone products, although RIM was still strictly an enterprise-facing company. Email was still the selling point as some of the early versions of this product required a headset to make calls, as there was no built-in speaker.
BlackBerry Pearl Part of the company’s 8000 series, which is when the company actively started courting regular consumers, the Pearl was released in 2006, and will best be remembered for introducing the company’s trackball interface. It also was the company’s first phone with a camera and a media player.
BlackBerry Bold The last of the truly beloved BlackBerry phones, it was launched in 2008 and was technically the 9000 series. While the series featured other models (Storm, Tour and Torch), it was the Bold line of phones — particularly the 9900 — that diehard fans hung onto. Like, say, Kim Kardashian, who as recently as this year lamented the fact that she couldn’t find a Bold on eBay.
BlackBerry PlayBook Launched in April 2011, with a seven-inch screen, this was the company’s attempt to get into tablet space. It was hobbled by a high price, a lack of intuitive controls and bizarre decisions like only allowing email to people who also had BlackBerry phones, thereby killing its potential as a crossover device.
BlackBerry 10 (and other “comebacks”) The company took too long to release the BlackBerry 10 — 2013 — and, as a result, the competition dominated the market. The company tried to go without a physical keyboard with the Z10, and then followed it up with the keyboarded Q10. Since then, the company has had a bit better luck with niche phones, like the giant flat Passport or the retro-themed Classic.
BlackBerry goes Android There was some consumer excitement about the Priv, BlackBerry’s anticipated slider phone last year, which was an attempt at a premium phone. It also signalled the company’s move toward Android, with some BB10 enhancements. It was followed up by the DTEK50, the company’s most recent release, which foreshadowed the company’s move to outsource design, as the phone was really a re-badged phone by Alcatel.