BlackBerry PDA Phones

Research in Motion: Company Profile

The company that makes the BlackBerry is Research in Motion (RIM), based out of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Although the company was in existence for some time before, it wasn't until 1999 that RIM introduced the first BlackBerry onto the world. With a monochrome display and a pager-like design, the BlackBerry 850 wasn't the prettiest thing on the block.

However, two years later in 2001, RIM added integrated phone services into their latest BlackBerry and the revolution began. No longer did you need both a separate email/WAP-only device AND a cellular phone, because you could have them both in the BlackBerry 6210, 6230, and 6280. Today, Research in Motion is a leader in corporate communications and currently has approximately 4000 employees (as of Q2 2006).

BlackBerry: A Rose by any Other Name...

According to an article from Bloomberg written by Anthony Effinger, the name BlackBerry was only settled on "after weeks of work by Lexicon Branding Inc., the Sausalito, California–based firm that named Intel Corp.’s Pentium microprocessor and Apple’s PowerBook. One of the naming experts at Lexicon thought the miniature buttons on RIM’s product looked like the tiny seeds in a strawberry. A linguist at the firm thought straw was too slow sounding. Someone else suggested blackberry. RIM went for it", and the rest is history.

BlackBerry Signature Features

• Push Email: This is easily the "killer app" that separates BlackBerry devices from the rest of the crowd. Instead of having to manually tell the cellular phone to check your email inbox, messages are automatically "pushed" to the mobile device in real time. This allows corporate users to stay on top of things and be up to the minute with any pressing messages. No need to "refresh", in other words.

• QWERTY Keyboard: Because the BlackBerry is primarily a portable emailing device (rather than a voice-based communications handset), ease of text entry is paramount. That's why right from the start, Research in Motion implemented full QWERTY keyboards for their BlackBerry devices, like the 8700g. Typing lengthy emails using just your thumbs is not much more difficult than on a computer keyboard, and definitely easier than the more standard SMS-like practices found on conventional cell phones.

• SureType Technology: A more recent innovation coming out of Research in Motion is what they call "SureType". Two letters are mapped to each button, making the keypad more compact and thus allowing for a more phone-like form factor. The BlackBerry devices uses predictive text to best "figure out" what the user is trying to write. The 7100 series of BlackBerry devices -- available as the 7100g from Cingular, and 7100t from T-Mobile -- feature this technology that is like T9, only (arguably) better.

• PDA Functionality: Because the BlackBerry is designed with the business user in mind, Research in Motion implements a full suite of personal information management (PIM) tools -- sometimes better known to Joe Public as "PDA" (personal digital assistant) functions -- into their devices, including an address book, calendar / appointment keeper, and "to do" list.

• Trackwheel: Scrolling through menu items is made easy by the inclusion of a clicking trackwheel on the right side of most, if not all BlackBerry PDA phones. This overcomes the lack of a touchscreen, and is said to be easier to use than a more conventional 5-way navigation pad.

• BlackBerry Connect: BlackBerry is not only the name of a device, but also a service best known for its "push email", as mentioned above. Compatible non-RIM products can take advantage of "BlackBerry Connect", like the Sony Ericsson P910, Nokia 9500, and Siemens SK65.

Primary Competition

By most accounts, the main competition for Research in Motion's line of BlackBerry PDA phones is the Palm Treo (600, 650, 700p, 700w, etc.). This is in part due to the appeal of Palm's operating system, which some say is superior to the propriety OS found on BlackBerry devices. This could also be due to the widespread use of Palm devices in earlier years, leading to a certain level of brand (and OS) familiarity, as well as the wide range of third party software programs available. Moreover, there is even a Palm Treo (the 700w) which runs on a version of Windows Mobile, for an even more familiar experience. There are countless Palm fanboys and there are just as many BlackBerry aficionados... and never the 'twain shall meet.