These are due in February It says it will slash more than 10 percent of its workforce and buy back stock. July 12, - Executives deflect criticism at annual general meeting, after an activist shareholder withdrew a motion to force co-CEOs Lazaridis and Balsillie to relinquish their other shared role as board chairman. September 6, - A second activist shareholder asks the board to wrest control from Lazaridis and Balsillie and consider RIM putting itself up for sale or spinning off units.
September 15, - RIM reports another poor quarter including a sharp falloff in phone and tablet shipments.
It points to the low end of latest full year earnings outlook. It was a two-way communicator that also had the ability to send faxes, as well as link to the Internet and email.
So he hired Lexicon Branding, based in California, to find a way to draw more attention to its keyboard, the main feature that differentiated it from other pagers. Branding executives pondered the device, focusing mainly on its appearance, and when one of them pointed out the little keypad looked like similar to the seeds of a strawberry, the conversation zeroed in on the names of fruits and vegetables.
Suddenly the BlackBerry was everywhere in the technology community, thrust into the spotlight by the enthusiastic co-CEO Balsillie who touted the device on Wall Street and handed it out for free at select technology conferences. Balsillie knew how to build buzz and proudly tapped away on the BlackBerry whenever he appeared before the media. A demand had been created, and subscribers to the BlackBerry services continued to grow in leaps and bounds.
Outside the courtrooms the BlackBerry was a massive success, garnering headlines when its enterprise network remained intact after the terrorist attacks on Sept. Within two years, BlackBerry reached more than 1 million subscribers.
The smartphone was in demand at corporate offices around the world, and soon the more casual consumer began to take notice, helping to boost its subscribers to nine million by RIM also secured a distribution deal in China, driving its stock to a level that made it the most valuable Canadian company.
In June , Apple unleashed the first iPhone touchscreen device onto the U. Whether it was a strategic decision or simply coincidence, Apple kept its iPhone far away from the Canadian marketplace for nearly a year, choosing to launch in six other countries first.
They gave Apple a two-year head start. RIM went on the defensive in , releasing a combination keypad and touchscreen device it called the Storm, but the phone was swept up in a flurry of other BlackBerry releases that year.
At the height of its hype, the BlackBerry device was splashed across television shows and movies, while then-presidential candidate Barack Obama proclaimed he was a BlackBerry faithful during his campaign. In , Balsillie launched his third, and most aggressive, attempt to buy an National Hockey League team, with hopes that he could convince the NHL to move the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences.
For more information, visit www. Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U. When used herein, words such as "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend," "believe", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Research in Motion Ltd. These always-on devices have proven popular with corporations who use them for field service representatives and other mobile employees.
BlackBerry's service delivers e-mail messages from corporate servers to handheld BlackBerry devices. Some models also have voice capabilities and can function as cell phones.
Other advanced features include the ability to visit specific web sites and conduct Internet searches. In addition, BlackBerry devices include other features common to personal digital assistants PDAs , including calendars and organizers. In addition to wireless handheld devices, RIM also provides radio modems to original equipment manufacturers OEMs and software development kits for creating applications for BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds.
Lazardis, the son of Greeks who immigrated to Canada from Turkey in , was 23 at the time. He had recently dropped out of the University of Waterloo, where he was studying electrical engineering. Backed by loans from friends and family, Lazardis and two friends started RIM. The company's first contract came from General Motors of Canada Ltd. For several years the company survived by moving from contract to contract.
RIM became interested in the long-term potential of digital wireless devices after it received a contract in from Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications, Inc.
The contract required RIM to investigate the potential of newer wireless digital network systems being developed by Sweden's LM Ericsson. RIM was soon manufacturing tiny wireless radio modems. By the mids these modems were being used by original equipment manufacturers OEMs in products ranging from computers to vending machines.
By RIM was developing software to support a complete wireless e-mail system. In January Ericsson introduced its first portable radio modem, which was designed for Hewlett-Packard Co. RIM noted that by using radio packet technology instead of cellular networks, the network could determine the optimum time to send an e-mail message.
The system, which was still being developed, featured uninterrupted connectivity. Realizing that he was better at engineering than corporate finance, Lazardis hired James Balsillie in to handle the company's finances and business development.
Balsillie was a chartered accountant with an M. In RIM released version 2. By manufacturers were beginning to focus on developing smart pagers that would utilize packet-based networks to provide wireless Internet access. RIM initially announced it had two such pagers in development for commercial release in , one for the RAM Mobile Data wireless network and another that was compatible with Ardis Co. RIM's pocket-sized smart pages would let users exchange pages, e-mail, and Internet messages via either network.
An innovative two-way messaging device, the Inter ctive pager featured a QWERTY keyboard and a small, text-only display screen that showed four lines of text. It was developed jointly with Intel Corporation and included a bit operating system along with built-in contact manager, scheduler, and forms-based messaging applications.
With service provided by Ardis Co. The handheld device could also store KB of data and had a variety of pre-programmed response messages, such as "I'll be late.
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