June 3, 2011: iOS overtakes Analysis in Movement’s BlackBerry working system for the primary time, with Apple’s cell working system inching previous BlackBerry OS.
Whereas Android stays comfortably within the lead by way of market share, the information marks the start of the tip for BlackBerry as a smartphone powerhouse.
Starting of the tip for BlackBerry OS
Analysis in Movement, a Canadian firm that established deep roots in company environments with pagers and different enterprise {hardware}, as soon as dominated the enterprise world. Its lengthy line of BlackBerry units operating on BlackBerry OS boasted responsive bodily QWERTY keyboards and native help for push electronic mail. These options made them the go-to cell units for the company world.
That each one started to vary after Apple bought into the sport in 2007 with the iPhone launch. Simply 4 years later, BlackBerry’s outstanding decline mirrored the iPhone’s fast ascent, solely in reverse.
In 2009, because the iPhone actually began to take off, BlackBerry’s international market share hovered round 50%. By 2013, it fell to lower than 3%. And on January 4, 2022, BlackBerry formally pulled the plug on its once-dominant units.
“As one other milestone within the BlackBerry journey, we might be taking steps to decommission the legacy companies for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software program, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier variations, with an finish of life or termination date of January 4, 2022,” the corporate stated in an announcement. “As of this date, units operating these legacy companies and software program by means of both service or Wi-Fi connections will not reliably perform, together with for information, cellphone calls, SMS and 9-1-1 performance. We now have chosen to increase our service till then as an expression of because of our loyal companions and prospects.”
Upstart iPhone killed BlackBerry
The stats exhibiting the decline of BlackBerry OS, launched on this date in 2011, highlighted the ocean change occurring within the cell world. Figures launched by comScore confirmed that Apple’s iOS platform held 26% of the U.S. marketplace for cell phones, whereas BlackBerry OS fell to 25.7%.
By this level, Apple had overtaken RIM by way of smartphone shipments. Nonetheless, as a result of BlackBerry’s historic lead, it took barely longer for the iPhone to catch up by way of cell utilization.
BlackBerry fails to behave
The 2015 e-book Shedding the Sign: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry tells the story of Analysis in Movement’s response to the unique iPhone. BlackBerry execs responded to the primary iPhone demo with equal elements terror, admiration and burying their heads within the sand.
One passage outlines the corporate’s utter failure to acknowledge the grave menace the iPhone’s touchscreen, and the revolutionary cell working system it ran on, represented to BlackBerry OS and their whole product line.
“RIM’s chiefs didn’t give a lot extra thought to Apple’s iPhone for months. ‘It wasn’t a menace to RIM’s core enterprise,’ says (founder) Mr. Lazaridis’s prime lieutenant, Larry Conlee. ‘It wasn’t safe. It had fast battery drain and a awful (digital) keyboard.’”
Like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s hysterical laughing at Apple’s $500 cellphone, the bosses at BlackBerry failed to appreciate simply how harmful the iPhone was to their enterprise till it was too late. Like, method, method too late.
Did you personal a BlackBerry again within the day? When did you leap ship to Apple and the iPhone? Tell us your ideas and recollections within the feedback under.
