BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld devices (commonly called smartphones) and services designed and marketed by BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM). The very first RIM device was the Inter@ctive Pager 900, a clamshell type device that allowed two way paging, announced on September 18, 1996. After the success of the 900 the Inter@ctive Pager 800 was created for IBM who bought 10 Million dollars of them on February 4, 1998. The next device to be released was the Inter@ctive Pager 950 on August 26, 1998. The very first device to carry the BlackBerry name was the BlackBerry 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999. Although identical looking to the 950, the 850 was the first device to integrate email and the name Inter@ctive Pager was no longer used to brand the device. The most recent BlackBerry devices are the BlackBerry Passport, BlackBerry Classic, and BlackBerry Z30. The user interface varies by model; most had featured a physical QWERTY keyboard, while newer generations have relied on a multi-touch screen and virtual keyboard. BlackBerry devices can record video, take photos, play music and also provide functions such as web-browsing, email messaging, instant messaging, and the multi-platform BlackBerry Messenger service. It was one of the major smartphone vendors until 2012. The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies. As of September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. That number has dropped steadily, down to 46 million in June 2014.
