Let’s take a look at why the superstar BlackBerry, which once shook the world, had to be broken. It’s natural and regrettable, but we only see it after a company or product has been successful. Few people look before they succeed. Takashi Tachibana refers to this period as the “mystery void age”. It’s a time to start something and to polish yourself up and wait for it to succeed.
The birthplace of Blackberry is RIM (Research in Motion), born in Canada in 1984. The founders were engineering students Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin. The first product is a wireless data communication device, specifically a device that supports the wireless data network Mobitex. RIM was the first company in North America to develop this equipment. Please remember that computers (PCs) and mobile phones were just beginning to spread.
In the early 90s, less than 5% of the total population owned cell phones across North America. Nobody thought you could send and receive text messages on a wireless device. This is the time when Apple’s world’s first PDA’Newton’ fell.
IBM ‘Simon’, which was called the first smartphone, was also dead.
In 1996, the next-generation Internet (= high-speed Internet) proposed by President Clinton as a pledge for the presidential election at the time was also dismissed as a catching talk. At this point, a turning point comes. It is a two-way calling service’ launched by ‘Mobitex’ in North America. RIM can’t miss this opportunity. The ‘RIM 900 interactive pager’, launched in 1996, is the first device launched by the company as a two-way pager with a keyboard. When this product was successful, the sequel ‘RIM 950′ came out.
In 1997,’RIM 957′ combined with a telephone was released.
Finally, in 1999, the blackberry 850’, which was named blackberry for the first time, comes out.
How The BlackBerry Succeeded. Even if you want to paddle, water must come in. There is a time for everything. When the first BlackBerry was released, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) devices, especially the pilot’s line of Palma, were in full swing. People were satisfied with cell phones and PDAs. But at this time, RIM will have all the conditions for BlackBerry to succeed. First I made the hardware properly.
Founder Lazaridis knew how important the interaction between the device and the user is. The height of the BlackBerry is still famous. Metal is used instead of plastic because of its height. It’s a real keyboard that feels like a ‘click’!
The name Blackberry itself is inspired by the shape of the keyboard. Later, Blackberry’s identity is defined by the keyboard. Next, the basic function worked fine. Blackberry was different from Newton or Simon, which was expensive and didn’t work well. It was a device that performed well for one function: ‘the ability to send and receive messages on the fly’. Users are impressed by how long the battery lasts, is very easy to use, and works perfectly wirelessly. At the time, PDA could receive data only when connected to a PC by wire. Finally, I convinced my corporate customers. In particular, it was great to be able to send and receive encrypted corporate emails. Security ability was also excellent. With this advantage, I was able to persuade corporate executives. Data usage was cheaper than competitors. Early BlackBerrys were devices that business executives bought and plugged into their employees.
To Work, The BlackBerry, sold around Wall Street, has gained the image of a device used by successful people’. In 2002, the early BlackBerry phone model blackberry 5810′ was released. You must have connected the earphones = The microphone and speaker are not running. Of course, it is ruined. The ‘Blackberry 6710′, which was released at the end of the year, only corrected the mistake. In 2003, the blackberry 6200’ and The ‘Blackberry 7230′ became popular, and the subsequent 7100 and 8700 models also sold well. Until then, BlackBerry was targeting the B2B market such as public institutions and companies. In 2006, the first blackberry Pearl (8100)’ aimed at general consumers was released, becoming the king of the smartphone market. At one time, it occupied nearly 50% of the US smartphone market. In 2013, when the number of users was the most, 85 million users were BlackBerry phone users. Annual sales alone were around 50 million units, and sales reached 20 billion dollars (22.48 trillion won).
The paid service ‘Blackberry Messenger (BBM)’ also gained sensational popularity, and service sales were said to be significant. But in 2007, the iPhone was released? There is a famous anecdote that Lazaridis, who opened the device, said, “I don’t know how such a phone came out.” It wasn’t a phone, he looked like, it was a small computer.
The iOS capacity reached 700MB on the dual-processor (1 core, 1 graphic) created by Samsung. For reference, there was no app store at first. With an internet browser onboard, it almost certainly put a strain on the carrier’s network (it did). I left something like this. “If this (iPhone) is popular, we will compete with the Mac, not the Nokia” (Founder of Mike Lazaridis RIM)
The formula for success that RIM has built with Blackberry is now replaced by the formula for failure. First of all, Lazaridis predicted that the iPhone would fail because it wasn’t suitable for corporate use. However, the business soon allowed people to work on their devices. The devices the employees used were iPhone or Galaxy. I never thought that the smartphone market would grow to be consumer-oriented. It was too expensive to do that. Looking at sales in 2007, feature phones sold over 1.1 billion units, while smartphones were around 120 million units. It wasn’t until 2010 that it grew steeply. It didn’t even change the business structure.
Jim Balsillie, who was co-CEO, tried to open the popular BlackBerry Messenger to other models, but Lazaridis opposed it, and it collapsed. Val Shili sold out his Blackberry stock and quit his company. It was an excellent choice. By the way.
If it were us, could we have other preparations? There’s something I’m good at, and I’m loved because I’ve succeeded, can I suddenly throw it away? If someone tells me, “The era of biocomputing is coming, we need to transform into a biotech columnist.” Can I change it by saying “Yes I know”?
There are, of course, unreasonable prejudices behind the wall of fools so strong, but it is because it was formed in the life and social conditions of which we have lived. There is no reason to change unless it breaks and fails. Fortunately, Blackberry survived.
The brand name Blackberry was lent to TCL in China and then to a startup called onward Mobility’. It is said that a new 5G BlackBerry smartphone will be released sooner or later. QNX, which was acquired because of the BlackBerry OS, is now a flagship business. With its adoption as an automotive OS, over 170 million vehicles are in use. Originally famous security software is being used as a cybersecurity platform and is also included in QNX.
It is famous for it has never been hacked. After all, whether it’s a person or a company, You will do something based on what you have been walking on. Although the type of writing for the writer and the field in which the developer works are different, I will write and code anywhere. The power of magnetic inertia is so powerful that it is difficult to escape.
So, in order not to get stuck in the wall of fools, you must acknowledge that situations can change at any time, and keep thinking about how to adapt to the times with your skills. As if Apple’s South Korean Newton Message Pad developers were researching the iPad and finally released the iPhone.
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