Blackberry: When Keyboard Phones Were The Thing

 

When Blackberry was started by RIM (Research in Motion), its's founders surely could not have predicted its immense success in the years to come. In a time where portable technology was still a relatively modern concept and the internet was only beginning to blow up, the evolution of blackberry's product line from pagers to smartphones was no doubt a critical part of what was to come.

However, a major reason as to why blackberry earned its popularity was because they were the first company on the scene for cellphones because they most certainly were not. No, it was due to the fact that they understood what their market was and how to sell them their product.

Who was their market? It was none other than corporate executives, the men who constantly used their large chunky laptops sending and receiving e-mails as a part of their daily work. But what if a device that was portable and served as a cellphone too existed?

Enter Blackberry. RIM saw this opportunity and seized it, manufacturing machines that did exactly that more efficiently and effectively than any other company. With this, the blackberry went on to become a multi-national brand, turning into a household name with an enviable reputation.

The 2000s were dominated by Blackberry, which was the leading smartphone brand at the time. At that time, these gadgets became synonymous with men in suits working in skyscrapers around the clock, while also being the coolest toy a high school kid could own.

This was without doubt the company's golden era with celebrities, actors, and many more flaunting their blackberries whenever they could. And it would be a crime if I was to forget the infamous move from former US President Barack Obama who held on to his crackberry while in office. Things really could not have been better for them.

That was of course, until there was a new kid on the block. That kid being Steve Jobs with his creation- The iPhone. This keyboard-free device left customers in awe and blackberry in panic as they scrambled to find new ways to stay competitive whilst retaining their iconic keyboard.

Though it's true that many users struggled to adapt to a phone without a keyboard, the real struggle was blackberry's in effort to compete with android and ios which were slowly swallowing up its market share. With fascinating apps and smooth touchscreen interfaces, these newer operating systems simply had too much on RIM's aging OS. 

It eventually dawned upon the executives at over at blackberry. The glory days were over. They proceeded to shift to android operating systems for a couple of years before calling quits on their phone division in order to switch its focus on being a software company.

In doing so, the end of an era was marked. Buying a slide-out touchscreen gizmo or a classic businessman's gadget from the store would no longer be a possibility. The world would have to get used to the boring flat touchscreen slabs we see today.

It was a sad moment for those from the crackberry community (an online forum of hardcore blackberry enthusiasts). But hey, now we can look in retrospect and admire what once was. The nostalgia of fiddling with one back in the day or watching one in a film lives on. And for all you know, one day you might just meet one of us weirdos who still owns one to this very day.

Photos Credit: Flickr