Blackberry (company)

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Blackberry Limited

logo
legal form Limited
ISIN CA09228F1036
founding March 7, 1984
Seat Waterloo , Ontario , Canada
CanadaCanada 
management John S. Chen , CEO
Number of employees 3,945 (February 2020)
sales 1.04 billion US dollars (2019/2020)
Branch Smartphone manufacturer , information technology
Website blackberry.com
Status: February 29, 2020

Logo until January 29, 2013

The BlackBerry Limited (proper spelling BlackBerry ) is a Canadian software developer and marketer of mobile communications systems and is known for the eponymous BlackBerry smartphone . The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange on the S & P / TSX 60 and on the NASDAQ .

history

Blackberry headquarters in Canada

The company was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis , a former student with Greek roots at the University of Waterloo , under the name Research In Motion Limited (RIM) to develop new communication technologies. The first smartphone was launched in 1999. Blackberry has also been producing tablet computers since September 2010 . For this purpose, she acquired the QNX operating system from Harman International Industries in April 2010 . On January 30, 2013, Research In Motion Limited announced that it would start trading under the name (dba) Blackberry on that date . From a legal point of view, however, the name change was only implemented on July 9, 2013.

After Blackberry put itself up for sale, several interested parties came forward to buy the company. At the beginning of November 2013 the sale was canceled and the previous head of the company Thorsten Heins was dismissed. Former Sybase boss John Chen took over the post. In 2012 there were around 80 million Blackberry users worldwide.

In 2014, Blackberry took over the German company Secusmart , which developed voice encryption technology. This is also used on the federal government's cell phones. The portfolio was further focused on "Secure Software Company" and is confirmed by further acquisitions: WatchDox (Israeli EFSS provider), AtHoc (crisis communication provider), Encription (cybersecurity consulting) and Good Technology (former EMM competitor).

The company suffers from a sharp drop in sales. While this amounted to 19.9 billion US dollars in fiscal 2011 (the highest turnover in the company's history), it was only 3.3 billion US dollars for fiscal 2015. However, this decline was offset by an increase in sales of around 1,370 percent in the period from 2005 to 2011.

On September 28, 2016, the company announced that smartphones should only be manufactured under license. For example, Blackberry offers hardware and software hardening for Android to other device manufacturers under license. The company also wants a licensee for OS10, but has not yet been able to name one.

Products

Blackberry

The first known product was the Inter @ ctive pager introduced in 1998. In 1999 the Blackberry was presented, which is still the company's best-known product today. This made it possible for the first time to carry out e-mail correspondence on the go via a push service .

Blackberry Playbook

At the developer conference RIM DevCon in San Francisco in September 2010 the "Blackberry Playbook" was presented as the answer to the Apple iPad . It was launched on the American market on April 19, 2011 in 20,000 stores at the same time, and was available in Germany from May 2011.

operating system

Blackberry OS

Main article: Blackberry OS

RIM not only develops the devices itself, but also the Blackberry OS operating system. In April 2009, Blackberry App World was opened as a sales platform for apps.

Blackberry 10

After the QNX operating system (microkernel architecture) was purchased in 2010, all products were converted to the Blackberry 10 based on it.

Patent Infringement Litigation

Blackberry has been involved in legal proceedings on several occasions for the alleged use of already patented technologies.

  • Glenayre vs. RIM: RIM accused Glenayre of infringing its own patents in 2001. The proceedings ended with an out-of-court settlement in favor of RIM.
  • RIM vs. NTP: In 2002, RIM was sued by NTP in Virginia . In the course of the trial, RIM was unable to rebut the allegations and the company was sentenced to pay fines. In the course of the legal proceedings, there were concerns that a short-term shutdown of the mobile services might be necessary. The proceedings ended out of court in 2006 with a payment of US $ 612.5 million. RIM initiated a judicial review of the patents granted to NTP, which have since been declared null and void by the US Patent Office.

Web links

Commons : BlackBerry Limited  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Change of leadership at Blackberry. In: Handelsblatt from January 23, 2012
  2. a b c Blackberry Limited: Annual Report 2019. (pdf) Accessed June 5, 2020 (English).
  3. RIM to buy QNX software. Announcement in The Globe and Mail of April 9, 2010.
  4. ^ The Verge: Research In Motion rebrands itself as BlackBerry.Retrieved January 30, 2013
  5. BlackBerry is sold to an investor group. Retrieved September 23, 2013 .
  6. ZDNet: Ex-CEO Mike Lazaridis is considering taking over Blackberry. October 11, 2013, accessed December 14, 2013 .
  7. n-tv.de: Contacting SAP and Cisco: Blackberry vies for buyers. October 6, 2013, accessed December 14, 2013 .
  8. Handelsblatt: Sale canceled: Heins fails with Blackberry rescue. November 4, 2013, accessed December 14, 2013 .
  9. Blackberry manufacturer RIM is doing better than expected , report on heise online, accessed on September 28, 2012
  10. Handelsblatt: Takeover of Secusmart: Blackberry buys "Merkel-Phone". July 29, 2014, accessed April 7, 2015 .
  11. Introducing WatchDox and the ABCs of secure file sharing | BB10QNX.de . In: BB10QNX.de . May 21, 2015 ( bb10qnx.de [accessed October 29, 2016]).
  12. BLACKBERRY LAUNCHES NEW PROFESSIONAL CYBERSECURITY SERVICES PRACTICE TO EXPAND PORTFOLIO -. In: press.blackberry.com. Retrieved October 29, 2016 .
  13. Press release Good takeover by BlackBerry. Blackberry, November 2, 2015, accessed November 2, 2015 .
  14. http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2011/2011rim_ar.pdf
  15. http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam/bbCompany/Desktop/Global/PDF/Investors/Documents/2005/2005rim_ar.pdf
  16. Press release Q2 fiscal year 2017. September 28, 2016, accessed on September 28, 2016 (English).
  17. BlackBerry's hardware department is now partially outsourced | BB10QNX.de . In: BB10QNX.de . September 28, 2016 ( bb10qnx.de [accessed October 29, 2016]).
  18. Chip Online, Article: PlayBook: RIM presents its BlackBerry tablet ( memento of the original from September 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / business.chip.de
  19. notebookjournal.de, article: RIM Tablet Playbook prices surfaced
  20. Glenayre settles claims and partners with RIM. Atlante Business News, February 5, 2002, accessed January 11, 2016 .