Jeff Hirsh Read: September 2024
Inspiration: Heard about the book on a podcast; curious to hear the full story of BlackBerry
Summary
Written with the help of ChatGPT, below is a brief summary to understand what is covered in the book.
“Losing the Signal”, published in 2015 by authors and journalists Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, delves into the rise and fall of Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry smartphone. The narrative unfolds how RIM initially revolutionized mobile communication with its innovative technology, capturing a significant market share and loyalty from professionals. However, as rivals like Apple and Android emerged, RIM struggled to adapt to the rapidly changing tech landscape and consumer preferences. The book highlights the internal tensions and strategic missteps that contributed to the company’s decline. Ultimately, McNish provides a cautionary tale about innovation, leadership, and the challenges of staying ahead in a competitive industry.
Unedited Notes
Direct from my original book log, below are my unedited notes (abbreviations and misspellings included) to show how I take notes as I read.
Communication advances moved slowed thru 1800s, Italian Guglielmo Marconi 1901 made first true advance with transatlantic radio msg of three clicks (morse code for S), Ericcson designed first car phone early 1900s, then Detriot 1920s police developed one way radio system for alerts, Chicago’s Galvin Manufacturing Corporation struggling seller of car radio parts, had pioneering radios called Motorolas for car listening but saw police cruisers as new market and made two way transmitters, just ahead off ww2 Galvin invent what would be known as walkie talkies for soldiers, following the war Galvin changed name to Motorola and developed pagers for professionals (first big hit with Pageboys in 70’s), then 1983 Motorola changed the game with its mobile phone DynaTAC (“The Brick”) which cost 4k and battery took half day to charge with 1 hr life, but only good for those near one another, bad for long distance and expensive, then Hawaiian Norman Abramson introduce ALOHAnet which was net of software and equipment that radiated coded msgs over radio signals (Abramson enabled first instance lf e-mails in 70’s with this tech, used binary code 1s and 0s so was efficient), took until 1990s for wireless networks to lift off, Ericcson and Motorola saw wireless future within plumbing of it (expensive but worth it to build the networks), Ericcson looked to intro Mobitex terminals to US and Canada as had done in Sweden to lay groundwork and partnered with Rogers in Canada, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis met as Lazaridis founded Research In Motion (RIM) which designed circuit board for Balsiliie’s employer Sutherland-Schultz, Lazaridis was born tinkerer and brilliant engineering mind, Balsillie was more dealmaker/sales but divisive personality as hard to control, Sutherland-Schultz consider acquiring RIM and Jim and Mike meet 1992, Mike had huge ambitions for RIM to lead wireless comms future, Mike’s partner was Fregin and while strapped for cash did not want to sell, Jim was getting let go from Sutherland as acquiror not want him so look to invest in RIM as partner to help cash needs—$125k for 33% was Mike’s offer as Mike had 40% and Jim initally scoff but soon turn back to accept, RIM help Mobitex with push into the US as RIM made radio modems that connected mobile data users to Mobitex net, Bill Clinton tout wireless comm era beginning 1993 but took many more years, Apple Computer tried with Newton MessagePad but buggy and ridiculed, 1995 RIM decided needed own handheld device for sending and receiving msgs, main competitors were Motorola Tango, Nokia 9000, US Robotics Palm Pilot, RIM set 1996 deadline for two way pager, RIM partner with RAM Mobile Data (data carrier), early 1996 have prototype of The Bullfrog (aka Inter@ctive 900), by May 1997 Bullfrog not doing great as too bulky and BellSouth told RAM Mobile they needed better devices than RIM’s/Mobitex (RIM was a supplier to RAM who sold for carrier BellSouth), RIM and Lazaridis focus on simplicity and ease, know wireless future and turn to email as next frontier people not realize needed to be aided by two way wireless tech, BlackBerry name chosen for device over Blade (liked the unexpected name, 2 b’s sounded efficient/quick linguistically), BlackBerry 1998–designed just for email (receive, fine read, send, all else out of sight, limit features that detract also enable proper sizing and engineering efficiency, 1999 blackberry launch it’s Leapfrog device and go on sales blotz focusing on senior biz execs—once gave them a demo, they were hooked, low price at 249 was a crunch but strategic, blackberry first mass device with thumb typing keyboard but biz execs saw value in instant email, spread quickly to their reports and insist all need the email access, blackberry was the first addictive mobile device/phone—people glued to it during meals, stock ipo’d on nasdaq at $13 in jan ’99 and then got merrill analyst report in may which send stock soaring, by march 2000 hit $156 (11bn valuation) and blackberry had only 500 employees, when launched Blackberry early ’99 Michael Dell was one of the first to order and then met with Balsillie in Texas, Blackberry pass Palm Pilot mid 2000 as Palm Pilot much more slow on email downloads (not instant, two step process with antenna and wait), RIM feared Microsoft but MSFT more focused on Apple and mobile market, other mobile data competitor was Motorola as Palm stock fall 90% by end of 2001, blackberry user base from 25k 2000 to 165k 2001, Lazaridis as lead engineer was adverse to adding internet and video to blackberry—saw that as not useful and simply clog data networks/cause crashes and drain battery when execs relied on the device for seamless email access, the biz execs in the ears of Lazaridis were conservative so Lazaridis in turn also became weary of tinkering with blackberry devices more and more, thru this ramp blackberry rely on Mobitex network—a little slower but reliable vs other competitors, growth of blackberry challenged Mobitex—couldn’t handle data traffic of this scale, RIM add voice to blackberry 2000 (Blackberry 5820)—sold to BT Cellnet as first customer Aug ’01 but super buggy as done too fast, 2004 blackberry intro new device and by ’06 2bn annual sales, then 06 came first smartphone called Pearl with trackball, by 06 blackberry was truly changing society and attention spans, further grew sales past 2bn, however hit with patent lawsuit by NTP is 2001 that came full force in 2006, huge stress and time suck, settled for $612mm, lawsuit distacted Basillie and team for a long time, Jan 9 2007 steve jobs announce iphone, wireless data revenue was huge for carriers and all sparked by RIM/blackberry but now apple and others come to play in smartphone market, google acquired Android to delve in, RIM not concerned initially as think iphone unsecure and bad battery and diff demographic who wants internet on phone, RIM thought internet just clog network and drain battery but had exclusive deal with AT&T that allowed it in deal with Apple, iphone sold 1 mill in first 3 months, essentially RIM underestimated that beauty mattered to people and steve jobs was master at selling to consumers, RIM also had backdating options scandal that sucked time and sewed division b/w co-CEOs as Lazaridis feel hurt by Basillie’s lackluster organization, Verizon and Vodafone wanted competitor to ATT and Iphone so push blackberry to make touch screen phone (didn’t want some other new standard blackberry), by spring 08 blackberry still 70bn market value but iphone up to 17% market share and blackberry to 40% from 45%, july 08 apple launch app store and att data highways even more crowded and call drops more frequent—however, people didnt care, RIM though data capacity was key but apple iphone showed was actually not priority to consumers and so data networks simply had to conform to iphone needs, Verizon demand RIM go touch screen smartphone so could compete with att and apple and RIM rush project to market, Storm device never truly pick up as needed, by 09 RIM still doing well but largely international consumers as domestic/corporate customers turn to iphone and android/google, RIM also finally give into app store merits but struggle on software as their infra was designed in skinny fashion for email and couldn’t simply tack on, meanwhile apple reached billions of downloads on apps, early 2010 verizon announce decision to turn to 4G but Lazaridis come in and explain why 4G not going to work as plan and 3G good enough, Verizon not bite, Verizon also move into iphones 2011 and att exclusive deal expire and turn marketing spend away from blackberry, ultimately big regret for RIM as fail verizon on device front twice (iphone competitor earlier and 4G device 2010), RIM also plagued bu governance issues around Lazaridis and Basillie—particularly after backdating options scandal but then promoted themselves to co-chair of board instead of independent, apple launch iPad just as RIM had tablet aspirations and so had to ramp up with PlayBook tablet but simply rushed and bad, early 2011 began to see cracks and revise revenue guidance down—international growth mask domestic struggles/market share loss, by mid 2010 financials to public show decline and share price fall below $50, verizon fall off a cliff in terms of orders of blackberry phones as huge year over year driver thru end of 2010, PlayBook launch without email—shocking to all consumers, really just lack vision/decisiveness given turmoil at the top,
