At first, we had the Nokia, a mobile phone that incorporated walking and talking, using your mobile whilst on the go. Currently, we have the iPhone, the king of the smartphone world helping us integrate between the physical and digital realm. But what did we have in the middle? Do you remember the Blackberry?

The BlackBerry was around from the late 90’s until the early 2020’s. At one point it was the most popular mobile phone brand on Earth, but what happened to it? Let’s explore the phone's original release, peak and downfall and see where we went wrong with this iconic, beloved mobile.

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When did the BlackBerry first come out?

The BlackBerry 850 was the first ever BlackBerry mobile released in January 1999. It was one of the first mobiles to integrate emails meaning you could begin to work from your phone, not just the computer. The 850 looked like a little calculator, it was a landscape with a stretched digital screen and a physical button keyboard below it in black. It was a tiny phone but had everything you needed to text, email, and type.

The public started to grow aware of BlackBerry, they were beginning to become known for designing with productivity in mind, they were one of the first mobile phones to offer calendar, emails and task management features. The BlackBerry RIM 957, BlackBerry 6210 and BlackBerry 8700 were all mobile phones BlackBerry made during the first part of their career.

When was BlackBerry at its peak?

Despite the Apple iPhone being out for 4 years already, the BlackBerry was just getting more and more popular. By September 2011, BlackBerry were considered to be in their peak, with over 85 million subscribers worldwide. At the time this was massive numbers because mobile phones weren’t as life dependant as they are now. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 was by far the most popular BlackBerry mobile or mobile phone in general in 2011, it looked like the classic BlackBerry you probably remember, coloured digital screen, buttons, and physical keyboard, a lot smaller and easier to fit into your pocket. The screen took up about 50% of the phone too. The 9900 was also a touchscreen smartphone, so it was clear BlackBerry was starting to lean into the new upcoming smartphone era.

BlackBerry Curve 8520 (2009), BlackBerry Z10 (2013) and BlackBerry Torch 9800 (2010) were another three of BlackBerry's most popular mobiles of all time, and these also happened to be released within the company’s peak time.

When did BlackBerry start to decline?

In March 2016, BlackBerry began to seriously lose its sales and see a visible decline in sales and popularity. In fact, in this year, only 23 million people were using their phones, a significant drop from the 85 million in 2011. The iPhone 6 was said to be Apple's most popular iPhone release of all time back in 2014, people were beginning to explore the smartphone industry, a world of touchscreen with features like cameras, videos and social media in the palm of your hand. 2016/2017 was known by many as the ‘YouTube/influencer era’ when it became clear you can make a career off of social media and the online world. To do this all you needed was a smartphone like an iPhone or Galaxy, not a BlackBerry mobile.

Although dropping drastically, sales still maintained because it was mainly younger audiences attracted to the new smartphone era, older audiences who owned the old iconic BlackBerrys weren’t interested in this new phase of life… but that was about to change. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus were all the most popular smartphones in 2016.

What killed BlackBerry phones?

By January 2022, BlackBerry officially closed its shop and discontinued all their mobile phones forever, no longer manufacturing their iconic BlackBerry’s. Plenty of new smartphone brands had taken control, Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy were considered smartphone giants, with Google Pixel climbing the leaderboard and Huawei, Sony and OnePlus also joining the smartphone scene. BlackBerry did attempt the smartphone world with the BlackBerry DTEK50 in 2016, but it just proved to not be popular enough. However, until its discontinuation, BlackBerry still managed to release a good number of phones over those 6 years:

• BlackBerry DTEK50 – 2016
• BlackBerry Aurora – 2017
• BlackBerry KeyOne - 2017
• BlackBerry KEY2 – 2018
• BlackBerry Evolve – 2018
• BlackBerry Evolve X – 2018

Related blog: The Most Popular Smartphone Every Year 2000-2024

Conclusion:

Did you ever have a BlackBerry phone? I still remember when you could win them in magazines if you entered certain competitions. It would be great for BlackBerry to come back on the scene with their mobile phones and smartphones. But could it be too late with the reign of Apple and Samsung? That’s up to you to decide…