BLACKBERRY®
The BlackBerry® is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999 which
supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing,
web browsing and other wireless information services.
Developed by the Canadian company Research In Motion® (RIM), it delivers
information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies.
BlackBerry® first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on e-mail.
The original BlackBerry® device had a monochrome display, but all current models have color displays.
© 2007 Research In Motion
Key features of the current Blackberry® OS:
Usual PDA applications (address book, calendar, to-do lists, etc.)
Telephone capabilities on newer models
Ability to send and receive e-mail wherever it can access an atmosphere wireless network
Built-in keyboard, optimized for the use of only the thumbs to type.
"RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries."
On April 11, 2007, RIM announced the number of BlackBerry subscribers had reached 8 million.
RIM settled on the name "BlackBerry" only after weeks of work by
Lexicon Branding Inc. They thought the miniature buttons on product looked
"like the tiny seeds in a strawberry".
But a linguist at the firm thought straw was too slow sounding. Someone else suggested blackberry.
