Once you go blackberry..

Alright folks! I had kind of a change of plans for the day. I was super excited to go down to The Royale to attend the 4 Hands CMS Keep the Glass night, but I decided it would be best if I stayed home and studied for my history final in the morning. That didn't stop me from picking up the CMS gift box from the grocery store on my way home from work, though! (And yes, that does mean I cheated on my beloved Craft Beer Cellar- sorry guys!)

As I'm sure you all know by now, the CMS gift box comes with a bottle of CMS, a bottle of Peanut Butter CMS, and a bottle of Blackberry CMS, as well as a Mason Jar glass! Tonight, I opted for the Blackberry, and let me tell you, it is a tasty beer! I can't speak to the nose as I've come down with a slight case of the stuffy nose, but the blackberry flavor is immediately noticeable, and provides a nice tart balance to the cocoa flavor that rolls in. And with the winter weather, you really don't have to chill this one in the fridge for very long! I put mine in for about an hour and it was good to go.

This beer got the wheels in my noggin turning, though, and led me to wonder... What ever happened to Blackberry? The phone manufacturer? So I did some digging.

After forming in 1984, RIM (Research In Motion) released its first keyboard-based device (a pager) in 1996. In 1999, the first BlackBerry device was released, a pager that featured mobile email, and the first BlackBerry with voice calling capabilities made its debut in 2002. The wildly popular BlackBerry Pearl came out in 2006, but by the end of 2008, BlackBerry shares were trading at under $50. In 2013, when BlackBerry was sold to a consortium of private investors, shares were trading at $9. Nine dollars!! That's nuts. It seems like just as BlackBerry really found its footing, the rug was pulled out from underneath it, and there's just no technological niche for it to fill anymore. 

It really interests me how what was once regarded as a corporate powerhouse of a cellular device has now fallen by the wayside in favor of devices like the iPhone. Luckily, there's a book chronicling the in-depth history of RIM and Blackberry! Canadian historian Alastair Sweeney released BlackBerry Planet in 2009, and while it doesn't include the most recent years of BlackBerry history, I'm looking forward to finding a copy of it soon.

Technological and corporate history is such a fascinating thing, and I'd love to hear if any of my readers have read about the histories of some of their favorite companies!