But one fact has remained pretty fundamental: You can have all the fun you want with that other gear, but if you're serious about e-mail -- especially corporate e-mail -- you're probably going to wind up with a BlackBerry in your pocket. Research in Motion, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company that develops and builds BlackBerries, has released a legion of the devices over the years, with each one differing from its predecessors in form and somewhat less so in features.
Generally speaking, though, BlackBerries have distinctly trailed the smartphone market. They've been perfectly fine phones that were more than good enough to be corporate standard issue, but they've lacked the sexy oomph that sells gadgets to consumers.
In many ways, they've been the gadget equivalent of a buzz cut: efficient, standard, corporate, boring. It features a new operating system, BlackBerry 6, but its physical form is unmistakably classic BlackBerry. The new operating system has a new interface, a media player, a new browser and hooks into social media, but it doesn't give you much in the way of features that you can't find in any other top-of-the-line smartphone.
That may be good enough. In a world where RIM was in danger of being lapped by the competition, the Torch is a more-than-reasonable rejoinder for an enterprise manager besieged by users insisting on Android phones or iPhones.
The Torch's 3. This will be a great relief to longtime tappers. Also, the BlackBerry's hard trackpad makes a welcome return to the middle of the row of function keys. Despite the new name and products, BlackBerry was unable to reclaim its market share. In November , Heins, after less than two years in the chief executive post, was replaced by Silicon Valley executive John Chen.
In , BlackBerry began to release smartphones that ran on a third-party operating system, the first of which was the BlackBerry Priv, which ran on a customized version of Android. This was followed by the DTEK50 the following year. After failed attempts to get the company back on track, in September BlackBerry announced it would leave the smartphone manufacturing business.
While CEO John Chen began outsourcing some production when he was hired in , the development and manufacturing of future devices was entirely in the hands of overseas partners such as manufacturers Foxconn Technology Group and TCL Communications by late Also in , BlackBerry launched a new smartphone and advertising campaign.
In November , BlackBerry announced it would acquire artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company Cylance. Click on the "Company" link at the bottom of the page for current corporate information.
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Accessed 11 November In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Placeholder for incorrect company id. Pros Portrait slider is a great form factorBig improvements in native web browserOS is far more polished than last version. Cons Hardware design feels datedOS improvements are mostly skin deepLow resolution display.
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