BlackBerry in ONE

BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld devices (commonly called smartphones) and services designed and marketed by BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM).^[1] The very first RIM device was the Inter@ctive Pager 900, a clamshell type device that allowed two way paging, announced on September 18, 1996.^[2] After the success of the 900 the Inter@ctive Pager 800 was created for IBM who bought 10 Million dollars of them on February 4, 1998.^[3] The next device to be released was the Inter@ctive Pager 950 on August 26, 1998. The very first device to carry the BlackBerry name was the BlackBerry 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999. Although identical looking to the 950, the 850 was the first device to integrate email and the name Inter@ctive Pager was no longer used to brand the device.
The most recent BlackBerry devices are the BlackBerry Passport, BlackBerry Classic, and BlackBerry Z30. The user interface varies by model; most had featured a physical QWERTY keyboard, while newer generations have relied on a multi-touch screen and virtual keyboard.
BlackBerry devices can record video, take photos, play music and also provide functions such as web-browsing, email messaging, instant messaging, and the multi-platform BlackBerry Messenger service.
It was one of the major smartphone vendors until 2012. The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.^[4] As of September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide.^[5][6] That number has dropped steadily, down to 46 million in June 2014.
The first BlackBerry device, the 850, was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager in Munich, Germany.^[8] The name BlackBerry was coined by the marketing company Lexicon Branding. The name was chosen due to the resemblance of the keyboard's buttons to that of the drupelets that compose the blackberry fruit.^[9]
The original BlackBerry devices, the RIM 850 and 857, used the DataTAC network. In 2003, the more commonly known convergent smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and other wireless information services.^[10]
BlackBerry gained marketshare in the mobile industry by concentrating on email. BlackBerry began to offer email service on non-BlackBerry devices, such as the Palm Treo, through the proprietary BlackBerry Connect software.
The original BlackBerry device had a monochrome display while newer models installed color displays. All newer models have been optimized for "thumbing", the use of only the thumbs to type on a keyboard. The Storm 1 and Storm 2 include a SureType keypad for typing. Originally, system navigation was achieved with the use of a scroll wheel mounted on the right side of device models prior to the 8700. The trackwheel was replaced by the trackball with the introduction of the Pearl series which allowed 4-way scrolling. The trackball was replaced by the optical trackpad with the introduction of the Curve 8500 series. Models made to use iDEN networks such as Nextel and Mike also incorporate a push-to-talk (PTT) feature, similar to a two-way radio.
On January 30, 2013, BlackBerry announced the release of the Z10 and Q10 smartphones. Both models consist of touch screens: the Z10 features an all-touch design^[11] and the Q10 combines a QWERTY keyboard with touchscreen features.^[12]
During the second financial quarter of 2013, BlackBerry sold 6.8 million handsets but was lapsed by the sales of competitor Nokia's Lumia model for the first time.^[13]
On August 12, 2013, BlackBerry announced the intention to sell the company due to their increasingly unfavourable financial position and competition in the mobile industry.^[14] Largely due to lower than expected sales on the Z10, BlackBerry announced on September 20, 2013 that 4,500 full- and part-time positions (an estimated 40% of its operating staff) have been terminated and its product line has been reduced from six to four models.^[15] On September 23, 2013, Fairfax Financial, which owns a 10% equity stake in BlackBerry, made an offer to acquire BlackBerry for $4.7 billion (at $9.00 per share). Following the announcement, BlackBerry announced an acceptance of the offer provisionally but it would continue to seek other offers until November 4, 2013.^[16]
On November 4, 2013, BlackBerry replaced Thorsten Heins with new interim CEO John S. Chen, the former CEO of Sybase.^[17] On November 8, the BlackBerry board rejected proposals from several technology companies for various BlackBerry assets on grounds that a break-up did not serve the interest of all stakeholders, which include employees, customers and suppliers in addition to shareholders, said the sources, who did not want to be identified as the discussions were confidential.^[18] On November 13, 2013, Chen released an open message: "We are committed to reclaiming our success."^[19]
In early July 2014, the TechCrunch online publication published an article titled "BlackBerry Is One Of The Hottest Stocks Of 2014, Seriously", following a 50 percent rise in the company's stock—an increase that was greater than peer companies such as Apple and Google; however, an analysis of BlackBerry's financial results showed that neither revenue or profit margin were improved, but, instead, costs were markedly reduced. During the same period, BlackBerry also introduced the new Passport handset—consisting of a 4.5 inches (11 cm) square screen with "Full HD-class" (1,440 x 1,440) resolution and marketed to professional fields such as healthcare and architecture—promoted its Messenger app and released minor updates for the BB10 mobile operating system.^[20][21]
On December 17, 2014, the BlackBerry Classic was introduced, with a keyboard which many consumers preferred over the touchscreen BlackBerry models (Z10 and Z30) introduced two years earlier

Hardware-Software and Connectivity

Hardware

Modern LTE based phones such as the BlackBerry Z10 have a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus 1.5 GHz Dual-Core CPU and an Adreno 225 1.5-1.7 GHz GPU. GSM-based BlackBerry phones incorporate an ARM 7, 9 or 11 processor.^[23] Some of the BlackBerry models (Torch 9850/9860, Torch 9810, and Bold 9900/9930) have a 1.2 GHz MSM8655 Snapdragon processor, 768 MB system memory, and 8 GB of on-board storage.^[23][24] Entry-level models, such as the Curve 9360, feature a Marvell PXA940 clocked at 800 MHz.
Some previous BlackBerry devices, such as the Bold 9000, were equipped with Intel XScale 624 MHz processors.^[25] The Bold 9700 featured a newer version of the Bold 9000's processor but is clocked at the same speed. The Curve 8520 featured a 512 MHz processor, while BlackBerry 8000 series smartphones, such as the 8700 and the Pearl, are based on the 312 MHz ARM XScale ARMv5TE PXA900. An exception to this is the BlackBerry 8707 which is based on the 80 MHz Qualcomm 3250 chipset; this was due to the PXA900 chipset not supporting 3G networks. The 80 MHz processor in the BlackBerry 8707 meant the device was often slower to download and render web pages over 3G than the 8700 was over EDGE networks. Early BlackBerry devices, such as the BlackBerry 950, used Intel 80386-based processors.^[26][27]
BlackBerry's latest Flagship phone the BlackBerry Z30 based on a 5" Super AMOLED, 1280x720 resolution, at 295 ppi 24-bit color depth and powered by Quad-Graphics and Qualcomm's Dual Core 1.7 GHz MSM8960T Pro.

Software

A new operating system, BlackBerry 10, was released for two new BlackBerry models (Z10 and Q10) on January 30, 2013. At BlackBerry World 2012, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins demonstrated some of the new features of the OS, including a camera which is able to rewind frame-by-frame to allow selection of the best shot,^[28] an intelligent, predictive, and adapting keyboard, and a user interface designed around the idea of "flow".^[29] Apps are available for BlackBerry 10 devices through the BlackBerry World storefront.

Further information: BlackBerry 10

The previous operating system developed for older BlackBerry devices was BlackBerry OS which is a proprietary multitasking environment developed by RIM. The operating system is designed for use of input devices such as the track wheel, track ball, and track pad. The OS provides support for Java MIDP 1.0 and WAP 1.2. Previous versions allowed wireless synchronisation with Microsoft Exchange Server email and calendar, as well as with Lotus Domino email. OS 5.0 provides a subset of MIDP 2.0, and allows complete wireless activation and synchronisation with Exchange email, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts, and adds support for Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes. The BlackBerry Curve 9360, BlackBerry Torch 9810, Bold 9900/9930, Curve 9310/9320 and Torch 9850/9860 feature the most recent BlackBerry OS 7 (launched in 2011). Apps are available for these devices through BlackBerry World (which before 2013 was called BlackBerry App World).

Further information: BlackBerry OS

Third-party developers can write software using these APIs, and proprietary BlackBerry APIs as well. Any application that makes use of certain restricted functionality must be digitally signed so that it can be associated to a developer account at RIM. This signing procedure guarantees the authorship of an application but does not guarantee the quality or security of the code. RIM provides tools for developing applications and themes for BlackBerry. Applications and themes can be loaded onto BlackBerry devices through BlackBerry World, Over The Air (OTA) through the BlackBerry mobile browser, or through BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
BlackBerry devices use the proprietary BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM, software for sending and receiving encrypted instant messages, voice notes, images and videos via BlackBerry PIN. As long as your cell phone has a data plan these messages are all free of charge. Some of the features of BBM include groups, bar-code scanning, lists, shared calendars, BBM Music and integration with apps and games using the BBM social platform.
In April 2013, BlackBerry announced that it was in the process of shutting down its streaming music service BBM Music, which was active for almost two years since its launch. BlackBerry Messenger Music closed on June 2, 2013.^[30]
In July 2014, BlackBerry revealed BlackBerry Assistant, a new feature for BlackBerry OS 10.3, and BlackBerry Passport hardware. The feature is a digital personal assistant to help keep you "organized, informed and productive."^[31]
In December 2014, BlackBerry and NantHealth, a healthcare-focused data provider, launched a secure cancer genome browser, giving doctors the ability to access patients' genetic data on the BlackBerry Passport smartphone.^[32]

Connectivity

BlackBerry smartphones can be integrated into an organization's email system through a software package called BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) through version 5, and BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) as of version 10. (There were no versions 6 through 9.). Versions of BES are available for Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise and Google Apps. While individual users may be able to use a wireless provider's email services without having to install BES themselves, organizations with multiple users usually run BES on their own network. BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry OS 10 or later can also be managed directly by a Microsoft Exchange Server, using Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) polices, in the same way that an iOS or Android device can. (EAS supports fewer management controls than BES does.) Some third-party companies provide hosted BES solutions. Every BlackBerry has a unique ID called a BlackBerry PIN, which is used to identify the device to the BES. BlackBerry at one time provided a free BES software called BES Express (BESX).^[33]
The primary BES feature is to relay email from a corporate mailbox to a BlackBerry phone. The BES monitors the user's mailbox, relaying new messages to the phone via BlackBerry's Network Operations Center (NOC) and user's wireless provider. This feature is known as push email, because all new emails, contacts, task entries, memopad entries, and calendar entries are pushed out to the BlackBerry device immediately (as opposed to the user synchronising the data manually or having the device poll the server at intervals).
BlackBerry also supports polling email, through third-party applications. The messaging system built into the BlackBerry only understands how to receive messages from a BES or the BIS, these services handle the connections to the user's mail providers. Device storage also enables the mobile user to access all data off-line in areas without wireless service. When the user reconnects to wireless service, the BES sends the latest data.
A feature of the newer models of the BlackBerry is their ability to quickly track the user's current location through trilateration without the use of GPS, thus saving battery life and time. Trilateration can be used as a quick, less battery intensive way to provide location-aware applications with the co-ordinates of the user. However, the accuracy of BlackBerry trilateration is less than that of GPS due to a number of factors, including cell tower blockage by large buildings, mountains, or distance.
BES also provides phones with TCP/IP connectivity accessed through a component called MDS (Mobile Data System) Connection Service.^[34] This allows custom application development using data streams on BlackBerry devices based on the Sun Microsystems Java ME platform.
In addition, BES provides network security, in the form of Triple DES^[35] or, more recently, AES^[36] encryption^[37][38] of all data (both email and MDS traffic) that travels between the BlackBerry phone and a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
Most providers offer flat monthly pricing via special Blackberry tariffs for unlimited data between BlackBerry units and BES. In addition to receiving email, organizations can make intranets or custom internal applications with unmetered traffic.
With more recent versions of the BlackBerry platform, the MDS is no longer a requirement for wireless data access. Starting with OS 3.8 or 4.0, BlackBerry phones can access the Internet (i.e. TCP/IP access) without an MDS – formerly only email and WAP access was possible without a BES/MDS. The BES/MDS is still required for secure email, data access, and applications that require WAP from carriers that do not allow WAP access.
The primary alternative to using BlackBerry Enterprise Server is to use the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS). BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries internationally. BlackBerry Internet Service was developed primarily for the average consumer rather than for the business consumer. The service allows users to access POP3, IMAP, and Outlook Web App (not via Exchange ActiveSync) email accounts without connecting through a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).^[39] BlackBerry Internet Service allows up to 10 email accounts to be accessed, including proprietary as well as public email accounts (such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and AOL). BlackBerry Internet Service also supports the push capabilities of various other BlackBerry Applications. Various applications developed by RIM for BlackBerry utilise the push capabilities of BIS, such as the Instant Messaging clients (like Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger). The MMS, PIN, interactive gaming, mapping and trading applications^[which?] require data plans like BIS (not just Wi-Fi) for use. The service is usually provisioned through a mobile phone service provider, though BlackBerry actually runs the service.^[39]
At 2011-10-10 10:00 UTC there was an outage in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, affecting millions of users.^[40] There was another outage just the next day.^[41] By October 12, 2011, the Blackberry Internet Service went down in North America.^[42] Research In Motion has been attributing data overload due to switch failures in their two data centres in Waterloo in Canada and Slough in England as the cause of the service disruptions