Discover how BlackBerry transitioned from an $85-billion powerhouse to the brink of collapse following what many consider an overconfident oversight.
For anyone who experienced the early 2000s, the term ‘BBM’ is all too familiar. This messaging alert often disrupted classes, much to the frustration of teachers.
For those not in the know, BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, was the go-to communication tool for the trendy crowd, as almost everyone owned a BlackBerry.
The company’s decline is well-documented, largely due to the emergence of Apple and Android devices.
BlackBerry was groundbreaking in multiple aspects. Sending emails directly from a mobile device, a standard practice today, owes its roots to BlackBerry’s innovation.
According to the Guardian, tech expert Jonathan Margolis remarked: “I was in New York working on a book, and I noticed everyone had these things called BlackBerrys.
“People were telling me they could send emails, and I remember thinking ‘No, you must be mistaken, you’re sending SMS text messages’. But a friend sent me an email from their phone, and I had to go home and pick it up on my PC. It was incredible.”
Back then, staying connected without a PC was a novel idea, a significant achievement for BlackBerry executives.
In September 2011, BlackBerry peaked with 85 million global users, a number that significantly dwindled over time.
By March 2016, BlackBerry’s users had decreased to about 23 million, as competitors such as iPhone, Samsung, and Google phones gained traction.
Margolis once pointed out that BlackBerry’s rapid accomplishments led to a sense of overconfidence within the company.
“There was a time when they thought that typing on to a flat sheet of glass wouldn’t work, but within a year the clicky-clicky BlackBerry method of typing seemed completely antiquated,” he noted.
Currently, BlackBerry no longer produces phones, having ceased production in 2016.
In January 2022, the company ended service for its remaining users by shutting down its servers permanently.
The story of BlackBerry’s rise and fall is so compelling that it inspired a 2023 film, delving into the company’s meteoric success and subsequent downfall.