BlackBerry
Author: Rod McQueen
Publisher: Key Porter Books
Price: $32.95
One morning over brunch, a friend of mine brought up how much our lives revolve around our BlackBerry.
We reminisced about our difficult lives B.C. (Before Cellular). While it is an incredibly powerful tool that has changed the way we communicate, what’s most incredible is the story of the BlackBerry.
Biographer Rod McQueen guides us through the birth of Research In Motion, a company that began with a $15,000 loan from the Bank of Mom and Dad. That is a pretty good return on investment, fast forward to 2010 with the company pulling in over $15 billion in annual revenue. Compare that to Motorola, which began 50 years before RIM in 1928 and is only a third the size of the new tech giant.
It’s hardly an argument that RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are beyond smart. It’s no wonder they created the smartphone market, something they did alone while everyone else tried to play in the crowded cellphone sandbox.
