BlackBerry Limited
BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion) is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones and tablets. The company transitioned to providing software and services and holds critical software application patents.
Initially leading the mobile phone and pager industry in the 1980s and 90s, the company struggled to gain a lasting presence in the smartphone market of the new millennium. BlackBerry led the market in many countries, particularly the United States, until 2010 with the announcement of the iPhone 4. The company withered against the rapid rise of Apple Inc. and Android. After the troubled launch of the BlackBerry 10, it transitioned to a cybersecurity enterprise software and services company under CEO John S. Chen.[3] In 2018, the last Blackberry smartphone, the BlackBerry Key2 LE, was released. In 2022, BlackBerry discontinued support for BlackBerry 10, ending their presence in the smartphone market.
BlackBerry's software products are used by various businesses, car manufacturers, and government agencies to prevent hacking and ransomware attacks. They include the BlackBerry Cylance, the QNX real-time operating system; BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Manager), and a Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform.
Organizational changes[edit]
Leadership changes[edit]
The company was often criticized for its dual CEO structure. Some saw this arrangement as a dysfunctional management structure and believed RIM acted as two companies, slowing the effort to release the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.[111][112] On June 30, 2011, an investor push for the company to split its dual-CEO structure was unexpectedly withdrawn after an agreement was made with RIM.[113]
Controversies[edit]
Environmental record[edit]
In November 2011, Blackberry, then RIM, was ranked 15th out of 15 electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace's re-launched Guide to Greener Electronics.[214] In its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated RIM the sixth highest of 24 consumer electronics companies.[215] In 2014, RIM partnered with Solutions for Hope to expand the number of conflict-free mineral regions in the Congo.[216]
Service outages[edit]
On October 10, 2011, RIM experienced one of the worst service outages in the company's history. Tens of millions of BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America were unable to receive or send emails and BBM messages through their phones.[217] The outage was caused as a result of a core switch failure, "A transition to a back-up switch did not function as tested, causing a large backlog of data, RIM said."[218] Service was restored on October 13, with RIM announcing a $100 package of free premium apps for users and enterprise support extensions.[219][220]
Government access to encrypted communication[edit]
After a four-year stand-off with the Indian government over access to RIM's secure networks, the company demonstrated the ability to intercept consumer email and messaging traffic between BlackBerry handsets, and make these encrypted communications available to Indian security agencies. This agreement does not include its enterprise services.[221]
Through the Canadian Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, Blackberry has given its master encryption keys to law enforcement, allowing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to view communications and other encrypted information.[222] Then-CEO John Chen defended the company's sharing of data, saying "have long been clear in our stance that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access requests."[223]
