Prior to the manufacture of the BlackBerry, RIM worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn the Ericsson-developed Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. Pivotal in this development was the release of the Inter@ctive pager 950, which started shipping in August 1998. About the size of a bar of soap, this device competed against the SkyTel two-way paging network developed by Motorola.
RIM's early development was financed by Canadian institutional and venture capital investors in 1995 through a private placement in the privately held company. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. led the first venture round [3] with a C$5,000,000 investment with the proceeds being used to complete the development of RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. A total of C$30,000,000 in pre-IPO financing was raised by the company prior to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January, 1998 under the symbol RIM.[4]. Since then, RIM has released a variety of devices running on GSM, CDMA, and iDEN networks.
In 2006 Research In Motion and Information Appliance Associates reached a licensing agreement whereby RIM would offer the complete version ofPocketMac for BlackBerry to Macintosh users free of charge.[5]
In October 2008, RIM was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine.[6]
RIM announced in February 2009 that they were expanding their global operations by opening an office and training facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Just across the Harbour Bridge, ten minutes from the Sydney CBD, the new RIM offices were formally unveiled by Mr Thomas A.MacDonald, Consul General of Canada, at a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the New South Wales Government and North Sydney Council, as well as RIM’s partners and customers. The new office features training facilities, a research and development centre, a strategic partner marketing centre and technical support services.[7] Total workforce provides 12,000 jobs world wide.
In June 2009 RIM has announced they were acquiring Dash Navigation, makers of the Dash Express.[8] In August 2009, RIM acquired Torch Mobile, enabling the inclusion of a Webkit-based browser on their BlackBerry devices.
On August 18, 2009, Fortune Magazine named RIM as the fastest growing company in the world with a growth of 84% in profits over three years despite the recession.[9]
On March 26, 2010, the company announced acquisition of BlackBerry applications developer Viigo, a Toronto-based company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[10]
RIM reached an agreement with Harman International on April 12, 2010, for RIM to acquire QNX Software Systems. "RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of QNX Software Systems and we look forward to ongoing collaboration between Harman, QNX and RIM to further integrate and enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM. "In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals, adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio and providing long-term synergies for the companies based on the significant and complementary OS expertise that exists within the RIM and QNX teams today."[11][12][13]
On September 27, 2010, RIM announced the long rumoured BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer. The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to US and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011.
As of May 2010, RIM OS held 10.4% of the smartphone operating system market.[14]
On Jun 30, 2011, an investor push for the company to split its dual-CEO structure was unexpectedly withdrawn after an agreement was made with RIM. RIM announced that after discussions between the two groups, Northwest & Ethical Investments will withdraw its shareholder proposal before RIM's annual meeting.[15]
In September 2011, RIM decided to build assembly factory (hardware) in Malaysia rather in Indonesia, but Indonesia will become the BlackBerry's application and market research centre(software).[16]
On October 10, 2011, RIM experienced one of the worst service outages in the company's history. Tens of millions of BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America were unable to receive or send emails and BBM messages through their phones.[17] The outage was caused as a result of a core switch failure, "A transition to a back-up switch did not function as tested, causing a large backlog of data, RIM said."[18] Service was restored Thursday 13 October, with RIM announcing a $100 package of free premium apps for users and enterprise support extensions.[19][20]
On January 22, 2012 RIM announced that Co CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have stepped down as CEOs and announced the new CEO to be Thorsten Heins.[21][22]
In March 2012 it was announced that RIM was awarded a patent for placing fuel cells behind mobile phone keyboards.[23] Through the system, which RIM had applied for a patent for in 2009, a mobile phone would be able to recharge itself.[24]
On March 29, 2012, RIM announced a strategic review[25] of its future business strategy - A plan to refocus on the enterprise business and leverage on its leading position in the enterprise space.[26] The RIM Chief Executive, Thorsten Heins said, "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."[27] As part of the management shake-up, it was also announced that the former co-chief Jim Balsillie has resigned from RIM's board along the departure of David Yach, CTO for software, and Jim Rowan, COO for global operations.
On 24th May 2012, RIM's global sales head Patrick Spence resigned.[28]
RIM's chief legal officer is retiring from the company after 12 years, but would stay on until a replacement is hired.[29] RIM after a four year stand-off with the Indian Government, agreed to hand over encryption keys for its secure corporate emails and popular messenger services. It recently demonstrated a solution that can intercept messages and emails exchanged between BlackBerry handsets, and make these encrypted communications available to Indian security agencies. [30]
[edit]Growth
| Year | Sales | Operating Income ($ millions) | Net Income |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002[31] | 294 | (58) | (28) |
| 2003[31] | 307 | (64) | (149) |
| 2004[31] | 595 | 78 | 52 |
| 2005[31] | 1,350 | 386 | 206 |
| 2006[31] | 2,066 | 617 | 375 |
| 2007[31] | 3,037 | 807 | 632 |
| 2008[31] | 6,009 | 1,731 | 1,294 |
| 2009[31] | 11,065 | 2,722 | 1,893 |
| 2010[31] | 14,953 | 3,507 | 2,457 |
| 2011[31] | 19,907 | 4,739 | 3,444 |
[edit]Decline
In June 2011, the company announced its prediction that Q1 2011 revenue will drop for the first time in nine years, and also unveiled plans to reduce its workforce. The market followed, with RIM stock falling to its lowest point since 2006.[32] From June 2008 to June 2011, RIM's shareholders lost almost $70 billion, or 82 percent, as the company's market capitalization dropped from $83 billion to $13.6 billion, the biggest decline among communications-equipment providers,[33]
In July 2011, the company cut 2,000 jobs, the biggest lay-off in its history. The lay-off reduced the workforce by around 11%, from 19,000 employees to 17,000.[34]
RIM lost some market share worldwide to Apple's iPhone and to smartphones running Google's Android operating system, which caused a decline in profit and share value. On December 16, 2011 RIM shares fell to their lowest price since January 2004 and the stock dropped 77 percent in 2011 alone.[35] By March 2012 shares were worth less than $14, from a height of over $140 in 2008. The BlackBerry PlayBook, launched in 2011 as a business-oriented alternative to the Apple iPad, saw only limited commercial success. Meanwhile, chief executive Thorsten Heins reaffirmed RIM's business focus, explaining that consumer-friendly features like entertainment applications are not important to the company's core customers.[36]
In the fourth quarter of fiscal year ended at March 3, 2012 RIM shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones, fell 21 percent from the previous quarter and it was the first decline in the quarter covering Christmas since 2006. For its fourth quarter, RIM announced a net loss of $125 million (the last loss before it occurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005).[37] RIM is the biggest world market share losers in 2011 due to Samsung and HTC booming with Android OS, while RIM's share in the US market dropped to just 3 percent from 9 percent a year earlier.[38]
RIM plans to streamline operations and save $1 billion in the fiscal year by cut at least 2,000 jobs worldwide around June 1, 2012 with possibility to cut as many as 6,000 totally in further period. At the moment RIM has around 16,500 staff globally with the peak at near 20,000 before.[2]
After the Morgan Stanley downgraded RIM, on June 25, 2012 RIM shares hit the lowest mark at $9.01, although closed at $9.11 and it mean 94 percent shedding of their value of the 2008 RIM's shares peaked price.[39]
On June 28, 2012, RIM reported its 2013 Q1 Fiscal results. Highlights include a GAAP net loss of $518 million in Q1, the delay of the new BlackBerry 10 OS to Q1 of calendar 2013, and a planned workforce reduction of 5,000. [40] In the aftermath, RIM shares fell 19%, to close the week at $7.39, a 9-year low. [41]
Shares price fell further on July 16th, closing at $7.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the lowest level since Sept 8, 2003, after a jury in California said RIM must pay $147.2 million as a result of an infringement on a patent on a system for companies manage workers’ BlackBerry devices remotely, held by Delaware-based Mformation. [42]
In August 2012, RIM annouced plans to take their blackberry phones back to what they felt made them successful in the first place, mobiles phones which appealed to business professionals. Thorsten Heins's (RIM CEO) also announced a new OS, BB10, which he felt would "reverse RIM's fortunes". This did little to appease shareholders however, as after his speech about future plans for blackberry, the share price fell a further 5%. [43]
[edit]Patent litigation
Since the turn of the century, RIM has been embroiled in a series of suits relating to alleged patent infringement.[44]
In 2001, Research In Motion sued competitor Glenayre Electronics[45] Inc for patent infringement, partly in response to an earlier infringement suit filed by Glenayre against RIM. RIM sought an injunction to prevent Glenayre from infringing on RIM's "Single Mailbox Integration" patent.[46] The suit was ultimately settled in favour of RIM.
In June 2002, Research In Motion filed suit against 2000 start-up and competitor Good Technology.[47] RIM filed additional complaints throughout the year.[48] In March 2004, Good agreed to a licensing deal, thereby settling the outstanding litigation.[49]
On September 16, 2002, Research In Motion was awarded a patent pertaining to keyboard design on hand-held e-mail devices. Upon receiving the patent, it proceeded to sue Handspring over itsTreo device.[48][50] Handspring eventually agreed to license RIM's patent and avoid further litigation in November of the same year.[51]
During the appeals, RIM discovered new prior art that raised a "substantial new question of patentability" and filed for a reexamination of the NTP patents in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That reexamination was conducted separately to the court cases for infringement. In February 2006, the USPTO rejected all of NTP's claims in three disputed patents. NTP has appealed the decision, and the reexamination process is still outgoing as of July 2006 (See NTP, Inc. for details).
On March 3, 2006, RIM announced that it had settled its BlackBerry patent dispute with NTP. Under the terms of the settlement, RIM has agreed to pay NTP US$612.5 million in a “full and final settlement of all claims.” In a statement, RIM said that “all terms of the agreement have been finalized and the litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief.”[citation needed]
On July 17, 2003, while still embroiled in litigation with NTP and Good Technology, RIM filed suit against Xerox in the U.S. District of Hartford, Connecticut. The suit was filed in response to discussions about patents held by Xerox that might affect RIM's business, and also asks that patents held by Xerox be invalidated.[52]
On May 1, 2006, RIM was sued by Visto for infringement of four patents.[53] Though the patents were widely considered invalid and in the same veins as the NTP patents – with a judgement going against Visto in the U.K.[54][55] – RIM settled the lawsuit in the United States on July 16, 2009, with RIM agreeing to pay Visto US$267.5M plus other undisclosed terms.[56]
On January 22, 2010, Motorola requested that all BlackBerry smartphones be banned from being imported into the United States for infringing upon five of Motorola's patents. Their patents for "early-stage innovations", including UI, power management and WiFi, are in question.[57] RIM countersued later the same day, alleging anti-competitive behaviour and that Motorola had broken a 2003 licensing agreement by refusing to extend licensing terms beyond 2008.[58] The companies settled out of court on June 11, 2010.[59]
In July 2012 a U.S. federal court jury awarded damages (later overturned) of $147 million against Research in Motion. The jury found that Research in Motion had violated patents of Mformation and calculated damages of $8 each on 18.4 million units for royalties on past sales of devices to nongovernment U.S. customers only, not including future royalty payments inside and outside the U.S.[60] On August 9, 2012 the jury's finding was overturned on appeal. Judge James Ware said Mformation failed to establish that RIM had infringed on the company’s patent.[
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