Hurry Man, I Need My CrackBerry Fix

For 10 years, Research in Motion (RIM) has been manufacturing the BlackBerry. In that time, over 50 million handsets have been sold world-wide. Over the years, the BlackBerry has evolved from a two-way pager to a fully functioning Smartphone supporting e-mail, telephone and text messaging just to name a few features.

RIM was started in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Mike Lazaridis. Before the manufacturing of the BlackBerry, RIM worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn their network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. The release of the Inter@ctive pager 950 in August 2000 started RIM down the BlackBerry path.

Since then, RIM has developed a variety of devices running on GSM, CDMA, and iDEN. What sets BlackBerry apart is the use of unique PIN IDs. Each BlackBerry device has an eight character hexadecimal number associated with it. These numbers can not be changed and are locked to the handset. This not only adds a built-in layer of security, but also allows BlackBerry users to message one another directly using the PIN or BlackBerry Messenger.

While originally thought of as a business only device, the BlackBerry is quickly becoming a mainstream device, earning the nickname of “CrackBerry” along the way, due to its ability to read e-mail received in real time, making the devices infamously addictive. Most current models include a QWERTY keyboard, trackball or trackpad for navigation, camera and expandable memory. With devices such as the Bold, Curve and Pearl, it’s no wonder RIM is second only to Nokia in market share.