Book description
BlackBerry Planet is a new tribe of people who simply cannot get along
without their favorite device, Research in Motion's innovative
electronic organizer, the BlackBerry. This omnipresent device has gone
beyond being the world's foremost mobile business tool and entered the
consumer mainstream as the Swiss Army Knife of smart phones.
BlackBerry Planet tells the behind-the-scenes story of how this
little device has become the machine that connects the planet.
Starting with the early years of Mike Lazaridis' invention and his
founding of RIM at age 23, it details his drive to innovate,
developing what was a glorified pager into the essential corporate
communicator, used by everyone from dealmakers to the Queen, from
movie stars to the entire US Congress. Since 1992, Lazaridis and
co-CEO Jim Balsillie together have been the driving force behind the
RIM story.
With access to senior staffers and former RIM employees,
BlackBerry Planet tells the inside story about the branding
and marketing success of the BlackBerry, from its use during 9/11,
which earned RIM a reputation for security and reliability, to the
cultural adoption of the iconic device as a must-have symbol, to the
backlash against the addictive properties of the “CrackBerry,” and the
various patent suits RIM has had to fight off - including the
five-year court battle that resulted in the largest technology patent
settlement in US history.
As the incredible story of the BlackBerry unfolds, and as RIM battles
global giants like Nokia and Apple in the emerging super-phone
marketplace, users, fans, investors and competitors can look to
BlackBerry Planet for the insight and context of where
they've been, to try and predict where they're going.
Alastair Sweeny is a veteran writer specializing
in business histories and leading-edge technologies. He has produced
and written five corporate histories of leading companies in the
energy, financial services, technology and retail sectors. Alastair
has also produced book and digital content for Apple Inc. and
Microsoft Inc.
