# BlackBerry
**BlackBerry** is a Canadian technology company, headquartered in [Waterloo, Ontario](https://www.edgepedia.org/waterloo-ontario), that today provides security software, embedded operating systems, and secure communications services to enterprises and governments. The name originally referred to a line of smartphones made by Research In Motion (RIM), which dominated business mobile communication in the 2000s with push email and physical QWERTY keyboards before losing the smartphone market to iPhone and Android and pivoting to software.[1](https://investors.blackberry.com/faq) • [2](https://investors.blackberry.com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | Research in Motion, 1984, by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin; rebranded as BlackBerry on January 30, 2013[1](https://investors.blackberry.com/faq) |
| First phone | BlackBerry 5810, introduced in the US on March 4, 2002, the first BlackBerry with integrated phone capability[3](https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/214) |
| Peak share | 43% of US smartphone platforms in January 2010 (Comscore), falling to 5.9% by January 2013[4](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/03/blackberry-phones-once-ruled-the-world-then-the-world-changed/) |
| Smartphone exit | Stopped making its own phones in 2016; licensed the brand to TCL Communications, whose license ended in 2020[5](https://www.axios.com/2020/01/16/blackberry-software-company-phones) • [6](https://www.newmobile.com/uk/phones/blackberry) |
| Legacy service shutdown | BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10, and PlayBook OS services ended January 4, 2022[7](https://www.blackberry.com/en/secure-communications/support/end-of-life) |
| QNX today | Embedded in more than 275 million vehicles; used by 24 of the top 25 EV automakers[8](https://qnx.software/en/press-release/2026/qnx-technology-to-help-drive-bmw-group-s-next-generation-of-software-defined-vehicles) |
| Recent results | Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue of $163.3 million, up 26% year-over-year; QNX segment revenue $80.3 million[9](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000107023526000112/q2fy27ex-991.htm) |
## Origins and the push email device
Research in Motion was founded in 1984 by [Mike Lazaridis](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-lazaridis) and [Douglas Fregin](https://www.edgepedia.org/douglas-fregin) in Waterloo, Ontario.[1](https://investors.blackberry.com/faq) BlackBerry's defining technology was push delivery: messages arrived on the device without the user retrieving them, over a private network operated by RIM itself.[10](https://www.blackberry.com/solutions/appdemo/about.shtml) The company ran its own network operations centers, including one in Slough, England, that in a typical month handled up to 20 petabytes of data for users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/14/blackberry-outage-faulty-router-suspected)
The first BlackBerry to add phone capability was the 5810, introduced in the United States on March 4, 2002 (a variant, the 5820, had appeared in the UK a few months earlier). It required a headset for calls because it had no built-in microphone or speaker, and it combined email, SMS, a basic browser, and organizer functions in the housing of RIM's 957 pager.[3](https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/214) The Computer History Museum describes the 5810 as the first RIM email machine that was also a full-function smartphone, marketed primarily to business customers for whom messaging was the key feature.[12](https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/artifact/341/1706)
## Peak and decline
By the late 2000s BlackBerry owned the business smartphone market, prized for its secure email, physical keyboard, and long battery life.[4](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/03/blackberry-phones-once-ruled-the-world-then-the-world-changed/) As recently as December 2010, BlackBerry held the largest share of the smartphone operating systems market.[13](https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/fcc-filings/ctia_final_mobile_competition_report_comments_061713__as_filed_.pdf) Comscore's platform-share data show how quickly that position collapsed: 43% in January 2010, 30.4% in January 2011, 15.2% in January 2012, and 5.9% in January 2013.[4](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/03/blackberry-phones-once-ruled-the-world-then-the-world-changed/)
The company's own filings attributed the loss to intense competition, consumer preference for devices with access to the broadest number of applications in the iOS and Android environments, the lack of an LTE smartphone product, and delays in introducing [BlackBerry 10](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackberry-10), which left the aging BlackBerry 7 line in the market for over a year.[14](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000144530514001205/bbry-03012014x40fexhibit13.htm) In fiscal 2013, service revenue fell 4.0% to $3.9 billion, and the company shipped approximately 1.1 million PlayBook tablets, down 0.2 million from the prior year.[15](https://www.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackberry-com/Documents/pdf/financial-reports/2014/q4fy2014/Annual_Information_Form_Fiscal_2014.pdf) A three-day global outage in October 2011, caused by what RIM called a core switch failure at its Slough network operations center, affected roughly 70 million users and drew a public apology from founder Mike Lazaridis.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/14/blackberry-outage-faulty-router-suspected)
**BlackBerry 10 came too late.** Launched with the Z10 in January 2013 (US release March 22, 2013), the new operating system was well reviewed for its gesture navigation and unified BlackBerry Hub inbox, but its app store carried about 70,000 apps against Apple's 775,000 and Google's 675,000, and roughly 40% of BlackBerry 10's apps were Android ports.[16](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/review-blackberry-10-is-better-much-better-late-than-never/) • [14](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000144530514001205/bbry-03012014x40fexhibit13.htm) French reporting noted that BlackBerry never convinced major developers to port their applications, a weakness that proved fatal outside sectors with specific security needs such as governments, militaries, and finance.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2015/11/07/le-priv-le-smartphone-de-la-derniere-chance-pour-blackberry_6003228_4408996.html) By mid-2015 quarterly sales had fallen to 800,000 units, against 2.1 million a year earlier.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2015/11/07/le-priv-le-smartphone-de-la-derniere-chance-pour-blackberry_6003228_4408996.html)
## From phones to software
Under John Chen, appointed at the end of 2013, BlackBerry stopped manufacturing phones itself and shifted to security software, announcing the transition officially in 2016.[4](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/03/blackberry-phones-once-ruled-the-world-then-the-world-changed/) • [6](https://www.newmobile.com/uk/phones/blackberry) The company had bought the embedded operating system QNX in 2010, and after exiting handsets it licensed the BlackBerry brand: TCL [Communication](https://www.edgepedia.org/communication) made BlackBerry-branded Android phones until terminating the license on August 31, 2020, after which the American startup OnwardMobility took it over with a promised 5G keyboard phone that never shipped; OnwardMobility shut down in 2022.[5](https://www.axios.com/2020/01/16/blackberry-software-company-phones) • [6](https://www.newmobile.com/uk/phones/blackberry) • [18](https://www.itpro.com/mobile/mobile-phones/362724/blackberry-revival-dead-onwardmobility-shuts-down) In 2023 BlackBerry sold its portfolio of mobile patents to Malikie Innovations, severing its last tangible link to the phone business.[6](https://www.newmobile.com/uk/phones/blackberry)
On January 4, 2022, BlackBerry decommissioned the legacy services behind BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10, and BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier; devices on those services no longer reliably functioned for data, phone calls, SMS, or 9-1-1. BlackBerry Android devices were not affected.[7](https://www.blackberry.com/en/secure-communications/support/end-of-life) • [19](https://www.o2.co.uk/blackberry)
## QNX and the current business
QNX, founded in 1980 and based in Ottawa, is now BlackBerry's core business. Its real-time operating system and hypervisor software run safety-critical embedded systems in cars, medical devices, industrial controls, robotics, rail, and aerospace and defense, and are embedded in more than 275 million vehicles on the road, used by 24 of the top 25 EV automakers.[8](https://qnx.software/en/press-release/2026/qnx-technology-to-help-drive-bmw-group-s-next-generation-of-software-defined-vehicles) In January 2026 QNX announced that its technology would be integrated into BMW's "Neue Klasse" vehicle generation to support safety-critical systems.[8](https://qnx.software/en/press-release/2026/qnx-technology-to-help-drive-bmw-group-s-next-generation-of-software-defined-vehicles)
The company's other lines include BlackBerry UEM for unified endpoint management, SecuSUITE for encrypted government communications, AtHoc for critical event management, and BlackBerry Workspaces for secure file sharing with AES-256 encryption in transit, at rest, and in use.[20](https://www.blackberry.com/en/secure-communications/support) • [21](https://www.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackberry-com/Documents/pdf/datasheets/north-america/en/ds-blackberry-workspaces.pdf) In fiscal 2026, QNX reported record quarterly revenue of $78.7 million, up 20% year-over-year, and the company described QNX as a "Rule of 40" business embedded in more than 275 million vehicles.[22](https://docs.publicnow.com/viewDoc?filename=41162%2FEXT%2F36F7B140B2F1C70274B0159DDDBB15FA854EFC17_4E0260C81E69279D5E698D511BA1EDAC405F6D70.PDF) In the second quarter of fiscal 2027 (ended August 31, 2026), total revenue rose 26% year-over-year to $163.3 million, QNX revenue rose 27% to $80.3 million, and the company reported its sixth consecutive quarter of positive GAAP net income.[9](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000107023526000112/q2fy27ex-991.htm) BlackBerry shares trade on the [New York Stock Exchange](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-stock-exchange) and [Toronto Stock Exchange](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-stock-exchange) under the ticker BB.[1](https://investors.blackberry.com/faq)
## Legacy
The BlackBerry keyboard remains a touchstone of mobile design. In 2014, a US District Court judge granted BlackBerry a preliminary injunction against the Typo iPhone keyboard case co-founded by [Ryan Seacrest](https://www.edgepedia.org/ryan-seacrest), finding a likelihood that Typo infringed BlackBerry's keyboard patents.[23](https://time.com/43565/blackberry-typo-sales-injunction/) Recent accessories such as the Clicks keyboard case for iPhone and Android phones, and keyboard phones like the [Unihertz Titan](https://www.edgepedia.org/unihertz-titan) 2 Elite, explicitly revive the BlackBerry-style physical QWERTY layout for users who prefer tactile typing.[24](https://www.wallpaper.com/tech/clicks-keyboard-phone-cases) • [25](https://www.techradar.com/computing/unihertz-titan-2-elite-business-phone-review)
## References
1. [BlackBerry Investor Relations FAQ](https://investors.blackberry.com/faq)
2. [BlackBerry Investor Relations Company Overview](https://investors.blackberry.com/)
3. [RIM BlackBerry 5810 and 5820 Smartphones, York University Computer Museum](https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/214)
4. [BlackBerry phones once ruled the world, then the world changed, TechCrunch (2022)](https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/03/blackberry-phones-once-ruled-the-world-then-the-world-changed/)
5. [BlackBerry is still here, Axios (2020)](https://www.axios.com/2020/01/16/blackberry-software-company-phones)
6. [BlackBerry phones: what still works and what doesn't, NewMobile](https://www.newmobile.com/uk/phones/blackberry)
7. [BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS Services FAQ, End of Life](https://www.blackberry.com/en/secure-communications/support/end-of-life)
8. [QNX Technology to Power BMW Group's Next-Gen SDVs, QNX press release (2026)](https://qnx.software/en/press-release/2026/qnx-technology-to-help-drive-bmw-group-s-next-generation-of-software-defined-vehicles)
9. [BlackBerry Reports Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Results, SEC Exhibit 99.1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000107023526000112/q2fy27ex-991.htm)
10. [About BlackBerry, blackberry.com](https://www.blackberry.com/solutions/appdemo/about.shtml)
11. [BlackBerry outage for three days caused by faulty router, The Guardian (2011)](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/14/blackberry-outage-faulty-router-suspected)
12. [BlackBerry 5810 GSM wireless device, Computer History Museum](https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/artifact/341/1706)
13. [CTIA comments to FCC mobile competition report (2013)](https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/fcc-filings/ctia_final_mobile_competition_report_comments_061713__as_filed_.pdf)
14. [BlackBerry fiscal 2014 annual report exhibit, SEC EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070235/000144530514001205/bbry-03012014x40fexhibit13.htm)
15. [BlackBerry Annual Information Form, fiscal 2014](https://www.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackberry-com/Documents/pdf/financial-reports/2014/q4fy2014/Annual_Information_Form_Fiscal_2014.pdf)
16. [Review: BlackBerry 10 is better, much better, late than never, Ars Technica (2013)](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/02/review-blackberry-10-is-better-much-better-late-than-never/)
17. [Le Priv, le smartphone de la dernière chance pour BlackBerry, Le Monde (2015)](https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2015/11/07/le-priv-le-smartphone-de-la-derniere-chance-pour-blackberry_6003228_4408996.html)
18. [BlackBerry revival is officially dead as OnwardMobility shuts down, IT Pro (2022)](https://www.itpro.com/mobile/mobile-phones/362724/blackberry-revival-dead-onwardmobility-shuts-down)
19. [We're closing our BlackBerry Internet Service, O2](https://www.o2.co.uk/blackberry)
20. [BlackBerry Support](https://www.blackberry.com/en/secure-communications/support)
21. [BlackBerry Workspaces datasheet](https://www.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackberry-com/Documents/pdf/datasheets/north-america/en/ds-blackberry-workspaces.pdf)
22. [BlackBerry Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2026 Results](https://docs.publicnow.com/viewDoc?filename=41162%2FEXT%2F36F7B140B2F1C70274B0159DDDBB15FA854EFC17_4E0260C81E69279D5E698D511BA1EDAC405F6D70.PDF)
23. [Seacrest Out: If BlackBerry's Going Down, It's Taking the Typo iPhone Keyboard With It, Time (2014)](https://time.com/43565/blackberry-typo-sales-injunction/)
24. [Clicks creates keyboard cases for iPhones, Wallpaper](https://www.wallpaper.com/tech/clicks-keyboard-phone-cases)
25. [Unihertz Titan 2 Elite review, TechRadar (2026)](https://www.techradar.com/computing/unihertz-titan-2-elite-business-phone-review)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Communications and everyday technology › Telephony systems and services › Telephone devices and subscriber equipment › Telephone handsets and instruments › Handset and desk telephones*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license