"Blackberry" by Matt Johnson: The Rise and Fall of the Blackberry Smartphone
Greetings!
There was a time when the Blackberry smartphone ruled over the smartphone market. For some time RIM, the maker of Blackberry enjoyed market dominance because of the popularity of the Blackberry smartphone. It was in 2002 when the first Blackberry smartphone was released and later became popular all over the world. Oprah, a popular talk show from the USA even endorsed and introduced the Blackberry to the general public to the amazement of people watching and to the studio audiences.
Blackberry nowadays has only been an afterthought. I remember that I got to see and use one that was owned by one of my sisters. If I am not mistaken it is a BlackBerry Bold 9900. The introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 and the first Android Phone in 2008 basically ended the dominance and existence of the Blackberry smartphone. I must admit that the Blackberry that I got to see and use looks impressive but it is not very user-friendly, to say the least.
The movie "Blackberry" successfully captured the narrative of the humble beginning of RIM and their most popular device "Blackberry". The narrative of the movie has some elements that I did not expect like showing the culture inside RIM which is very casual and very teeny (in my opinion). Its engineers got to play games like "Red Alert', and watch movies on what they call "Movie Night". Also the narrative includes an aspect of the company like "building your own desk" when you get hired as an employee of the company.
The narrative also did not shy away from using strong words especially the character of Jim Balsillie.
I like how the movie started with the humble beginning of RIM in a small but very casual environment office in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The environment of the office perfectly shows what a room full of engineers would look like.
I like how the movie depicted how Blackberry itself contributed hugely to its downfall (in the mobile market). The reluctance and egos not to embrace innovation like what Apple did pretty much made Blackberry's mobile phone business see its end.
Also, I like the fact that the movie did not shy away from including the issue of multi-million dollar stock backdating which garnered the attention of the Canadian SEC when RIM hired the best engineers from all over the world (including an engineer from Google).
The movie opened my eyes about stocks backdating which was unknown to me until I watched this movie. And if I understand it right. The movie depicts that what the two CEOs of Blackberry did is illegal.
I also like the fact that PalmPilot once tried to buy Blackberry. What I realized in this movie is that a business built very quickly (at all costs) will have negative consequences as was shown by the character of Jim Balsillie.
The movie seems very boring and slows in its first 5 minutes but turns into overdrive when Doug, Mike, and Jim meet for the first time (it is when Mike and Doug try to sell a phone called PocketLink to Jim.
One of the scenes that I liked very much in this movie was when the first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007. In the scene, the people of Blackberry seem very uneasy watching Steve Jobs, especially Mike Lazaridis, and then one engineer seems to be very curious or interested in the marketplace that was also announced simultaneously with the first iPhone. The marketplace is now known today as the "App Store" which generated more than $30 Billion of revenue for Apple.
It was from this scene when the movie tackles the beginning of the end of the Blackberry line of smartphones. The iPhone which was released in 2007 and the first Android Smartphone which was released in 2008 pretty much killed the Blackberry Smartphone.
After the scene showing Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone, the movie did a great of stitching the negative events that started the downward spiral of RIM's Blackberry.
All in all, I really liked the movie a lot. At the start of the movie, it seems to be a very slow-moving narrative but when Mike, Jim, and Doug finally meet each other that's when the narrative moves very fast and I can't even take a minute to move my eyes away from the screen.
The only thing that I noticed in this movie is how the character of Mike is not that very aggressive (or is it really his demeanor). The extent of the role of Doug was not actually shown in the movie which I would have loved to see. Doug is merely portrayed as a close friend of Mike Lazaridis.
Another thing that I noticed in this movie is the frequent moving of Jim from one place to another (maybe it is the nature of his job as he is a Master of Business Administration).
Also, I would love to see if Mike and Doug would ever have a talk after Mike told Doug he was useless. Which I would have never imagined.
If you are familiar with Blackberry, Android, and iPhone then this is a must-watch for you. This movie is actually to have said as a comedy that I did not see much of it but it did not take away from the fact that this is a good movie to watch especially if you love historical or true story movies.
Thank you very much to all of the Hive Ecosystem Curation Teams/Individuals, I am very grateful for the upvotes/curation/support. God bless you all!
I am a Computer Engineer, blogger, farmer, gardener, father, and husband. I love countryside living, nature, and farming (rice/vegetables), and I have two decades of experience as an I.T. professional
Copyright © 2023 @afterglow. All Rights Reserved.
That is all for now guys, catch you up with the next one. Wishing you all safety, good health, and abundance.
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My first BB was in like 2012, so I was always late to the technology. I liked WS better than PIN. I threw away about 4 so I didn't like them anymore ha,ha,ha,ha.... Sounds interesting to know where the story begins. Thanks for sharing it.
It is a very interesting movie. I love how it is made and I am sure you are also going to like it. Go and check it out.
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