BlackBerry Limited (formerly Research In Motion or RIM for short) is a Canadian software company specializing in secure communications and the Internet of Things (IoT).

A total of C$30,000,000 in pre-IPO financing was raised by the company prior to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January 1998 under the symbol RIM.

[15][16] The iPhone initially lagged behind BlackBerry in both shipments and active users, due to RIM's head start and larger carrier distribution network.

However, analysts were "worried that promoting the mysterious, supposedly game-changing devices too early might hurt sales of existing BlackBerrys" (similar to the Osborne effect).

The initial launch date was seen in retrospect as too ambitious and hurt the company's credibility at a time when its existing aging products steadily lost market share.

The arrival of the iPhone and later Google's Android platform caused a slowdown in BlackBerry growth and a decline in sales in some markets, most notably the United States, leading to negative media and analyst sentiment over the company's ability to continue independently.

[31] The first three iPhone models generally lagged behind the BlackBerry in sales, as RIM had major advantages in carrier and enterprise support; however, Apple continued gaining market share.

[39] Google's Android mobile operating system, running on hardware by a range of manufacturers including Sony, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG and many others ramped up the competition for BlackBerry.

[51] Heins set about the task of restructuring the company, including announcing plans to lay off 5,000 employees, replacing numerous executives, and delaying BlackBerry 10 a second time into January 2013.

[55] In discussing the decision to create a proprietary operating system instead of adopting an off-the-shelf platform such as Android, Heins noted, "If you look at other suppliers' ability to differentiate, there's very little wiggle room.

[63] Three days later, the company announced that it had signed a letter of intent to be acquired by a consortium led by Prem Watsa-owned Fairfax Financial Holdings for a $9 per share deal.

[66] Anthony Michael Sabino, St. John's University business professor, stated in the Washington Post: "This is BlackBerry's last-ditch attempt to simply survive in the face of crushing competition in a market it essentially invented.

"[67] On November 4, 2013, the Fairfax Prem Watsa deal was scrapped in favor of a US$1 billion cash injection which, according to one analyst, represented the level of confidence BlackBerry's largest shareholder had in the company.

[70] "We have begun moving the company to embrace a multi-platform, BYOD world by adopting a new mobility management platform and a new device strategy," Chen explained in an open letter published shortly after his appointment.

"[71] In April 2014, Chen spoke of his turnaround strategy in an interview with Reuters,[72] explaining that he intended to invest in or partner with other companies in regulated industries such as healthcare, financial, and legal services.

[90][91] On December 15, 2016, BlackBerry announced that it had reached a long-term deal with TCL to continue producing BlackBerry-branded smartphones for sale outside of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

[92] This partnership was followed by an agreement with Optiemus Infracom on February 6, 2017, to produce devices throughout India and neighbouring markets including Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

On October 30, 2023 John S. Chen announced his resignation as CEO through an employee letter posted to the Blackberry Limited blog page stating he will cease his role on November 4, 2023.

[103] After the release of the Apple iPhone 5 in September 2012, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the number of global users was up to 80 million, which sparked a 7% jump in shares.

In the wake of the loss, Heins stated: "We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure.

[114] In 2007, co-CEO Jim Balsillie was forced to resign as chairman as the company announced a $250 million earnings restatement relating to mistakes in how it granted stock options.

[115] In January 2009, Canadian regulators stated that they were seeking a record penalty of US$80 million from the top two executives, co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.

Furthermore, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) pushed for Balsillie to pay the bulk of any penalty and relinquish his seat on RIM's board of directors for a period of time.

[122] Heins hired investment banks RBC Capital Markets and JP Morgan to seek out potential buyers interested in RIM, while also redoubling efforts on releasing BlackBerry 10.

[130] Chen has a reputation as a "turnaround" CEO,[131] turning the struggling enterprise software and services organization Sybase into enough of a success to sign a merger with SAP in 2010.

The company delayed the product several times, remembering the criticism faced by the BlackBerry Playbook launch and citing the need for it to be perfect in order to stand a chance in the market.

[142] On July 26, 2016, a mid-range model with only an on-screen keyboard was introduced, the slim BlackBerry DTEK50, powered by the then-latest version of Android (6.0, Marshmallow) and featuring a 5.2-inch full high-definition display.

[149] The National Security Agency (NSA) has licensed 26 of Certicom's ECC patents as a way of clearing the way for the implementation of elliptic curves to protect U.S. and allied government information.

[175][non-primary source needed] WatchDox was an Israel-based Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing company which specialized in securing access to documents on a cloud basis.

Tens of millions of BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America were unable to receive or send emails and BBM messages through their phones.