HISTORY OF THE BLACKBERRY

 HISTORY OF THE BLACKBERRY

 The story of the BlackBerry began more than a quarter of a century ago, when engineering students Mike Lazaridis (now co-chief executive) and Douglas Fregin founded Research In Motion {also known as RIM) in Canada, in 1984.

The company's early work focused on solutions and devices for the Mobitex wireless, packet-switched, data communications network in North America. Mobitex allowed for two-way low-bandwidth, data communication, making it ideal for pager networks and, in particular, two-way paging, which let users receive messages and acknowledge receipt of these or even send replies. Early applications included point-of-sale (PoS) technology for retailers wanting wireless communications between in-store systems.

in 1996, RIM's first personal communications device was launched. The lnter@ctive Pager was a two-way messaging device for general use and quickly became popular among business professionals in several sectors, including health care and financial services. The company continued to focus on two-way pagers and early wireless modems until 1998, when the RIM 950 Wireless Hand held was launched. This was the first handset to look and behave like the BlackBerry devices we have today, but it still relied on Mobitex. As such, its use was limited to North America.


 By 2000, RIM had come up with the RIM 957 Wireless Hand held. Its iarge, mono display and full QWERTY keypad set the format for more than a dozen future BlackBerry devices, although the name had yet to evolve. This came about after it was suggested the tiny buttons on the keypad looked like the seeds on a strawberry. However, a team of branding language experts claimed that strawberry suggested slowness, so the name morphed into BlackBerry. The device's original codename was PocketLink.

Success over the next two years, and growing international demand for its technology, led RiM to migrate its device range and software platform to the GSM/GPRS mobile networks, allowing its devices to be used almost worldwide.

In 2002, the BlackBerry 5810 arrived. The first  device to carry the name, it combined two-way email and messaging with a basic mobile device. This was followed by the BlackBerry 6710 and 6720, which had more attractive designs and improved telephony features, such as an integrated speaker/microphone and international roaming capabilities on GSM/GPRS mobile networks.

By now, consumer demand for the BlackBerry was emerging. The idea of having easy access to email, as well as a mobile phone, anywhere within reach of a signal appealed to a wide audience and few devices from other manufacturers catered for this market. So RIM and its carrier partners created BlackBerry Internet Service (a version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server) to enable mobile operators to provide a service that let consumers

pull email from P0P3 and (MAP mailboxes into a push email account Then, in 2003, RIM released its next generation of handsets - smaller, cheaper, colourful and popular with consumers and business users.

The BlackBerry 6210, 6220 and 6230 were half-height, mono-screen devices that were low-cost and easy to use. These were followed by the 7230, 7210 and 7280, all of which had similar features to the 6000 series, but with colour screens.

In 2004, the 7290 arrived, bringing Bluetooth to the BlackBerry for the first time in a device the same size as the 7230.

By 2005, consumer demand for the BlackBerry was almost on a par with business use and more consumer-friendly devices appeared, including the 8700 and the short lived 8707. This was, technically, RIM's first 3G device, but it was not widely adopted by mobile players.

The BlackBerry Curve, for business users, and the Pearl, for consumers, were launched in 2007, with both handsets receiving updates that included GPS and Wi-Fi. A year later, 3G returned and HSDPA data was added as RIM brought the high-end Bold, touch screen Storm and 8220 Rip handsets to market.

2009 saw the release of the Curve 8900 (formerly codenamed the Javelin), BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Curve 8520 and successors to the first generation Bold and Storm devices in the form of the 9700 Bold and 9520 Storm2. These latest three handsets demonstrate Black Berry's endeavors into new areas of the market, including budget, high-spec and touchscreen.