The “All Baraq, All the Time” media used to love stories about Soetoro’s Blackberry. A few years later Blackberrys are a damaged brand.
Coincidence?
There is a population of crack berries out there and maybe RIM listened to them too much. They had a great product that met a lot of businesses and government needs, but they lost sight. But more importantly I think they were cursed with being first to innovate.
There is a pattern in technology that dooms innovators in the long run. The prime example is Xerox PARC where the first GUI was invented. Apple and Microsoft OSs both stole from Xerox and are still in the market. Another example is Viscalc and Lotus. Microsoft has this nack of waiting for innovators the do all the hard work. Of course Microsoft came,up with Excel as an original idea.
But back to BlackBerry, they invested hundreds of millions in a NOC that is no longer needed today for secure communications. BlackBerry marketing perhaps thinks that is still a selling point, but any technical guy can achieve the same level of security for tens of thousands of dollars less using off the shelf technology that did not exist when RIM got its start.
BlackBerry has lost its way, just like the Republican Party.
Blackberry is from a Canadian company.