Why everyone’s talking about... BlackBerry

RIP BlackBerry. The one-time king of the smartphone is dead as its manufacturers finally pulled the plug on its software, rendering any remaining devices useless. So, what went wrong?

In short, iPhones. In 2010, BlackBerry had half of the US smartphone market and 20 per cent globally. Just six years later, its share was 0.1 per cent as it failed to keep up with Apple’s upstart and, later, Android devices.

How did it get so popular in the first place?

The first BlackBerry, launched in 1999, was a pager that could send emails via its miniature keyboard – an innovation. It was because the buttons resembled berry seeds that the device got its name. BlackBerry entered the UK market two years later with its 950 model boasting an 8,580-pixel screen (the new iPhone 13 has three million). It was made by Research In Motion, a firm set up in 1984 by students Mike Lazaridis, a Star Trek geek, and Douglas Fregin above a bagel shop in Waterloo, Canada. They had various ideas before inventing the device which would make the firm worth £57billion at its peak.

Who had one?

Because they used a secure encrypted network, BlackBerrys were attractive to businesses and officialdom. At one time the US government had 500,000 of them, and Barack Obama refused to give up his personal BlackBerry when entering the White House. He wasn’t the only addict: the device was nicknamed the ‘CrackBerry’, while medics even identified ‘BlackBerry Thumb’ as a repetitive strain injury.

What went wrong?

The company failed to predict the rise of smartphones for personal use, was slow to innovate and released slow, bug-riddled models. Eventually BlackBerrys started using the Android system – but it was too late. The firm still survives, now offering cybersecurity services.