It's Evolution, Baby

This time around, I thought I'd incorporate a little more visual into my post. I thought I'd do a brief history on the evolution of the BlackBerry device's look. I think that this is important to see how the style of the device transformed from a data-centric tool, become more professional, then took on more mainstream appeal. We can see how the BlackBerry gained popularity in the corporate world, then took on a more stylish look.

First up:

The RIM pager. While this device was on of the first hand held to handle email, the big innovation was the full QWERTY keyboard layout. While the spacing may have changed over the years, the fan shape layout of the keys proved to be a favourite of RIM designers.

Next:

The main difference with the 957 model, was the larger size screen, a key feature seen in many device designs since.

On to:

While it may seem strange that I skipped over the first BlackBerry model to include phone capabilities, I wanted to include this model for it's innovation of a colour screen. The phone component of the BlackBerry was definitely a wise choice for the evolving device, however, I felt the colour screen was important as it opened up even more possibilities. With a colour screen, the idea of web browsing didn't seem so far away, pushing the interest for development on the data portion of the device. One can not also help but notice the interesting case colour choice, which quickly earned the device a nickname, the "BlueBerry."

Moving on:

The BlackBerry 7520. Forgiving the lame antenna, this model packed a speakerphone, Bluetooth capabilities and a two-way radio. Combine those with the ever popular email and phone capabilities, the BlackBerry was coming to dominate the corporate world as the hand-held device of choice.

We're almost there:

We come to what I believe is one nice looking device. Of course, I may be a little bias, as it's my current mobile device :) . The BlackBerry Curve introduced the utility of a business hand-held in a sleek package, with a high resolution screen and redesigned casing. This model, along with the BlackBerry Pearl, helped push these devices to a more mainstream consumer.

Finally:

The Flip. I'm not a big fan personally of this design, but I feel it demonstrates another way RIM is bringing it's popular BlackBerry devices to an even wider audience. I believe the demand for such a device did exist, with many people favouring a certain style of phone, like a flip, but we ready to take the leap into a PDA device. Further evidence of this can be seen with the BlackBerry storm, which I discussed in an earlier post. It takes the touch screen feature so popular in the mobile industry at the moment, and incorporates all the popular features of the BlackBerry.

When it comes to RIMs BlackBerry, we can see indications that the development and evolution have really been pushed by the wants, need and demands of the user. While new features are developed and incorporated, I believe they are in response to consumer demands. As RIM as been able to keep up, we see the BlackBerry being a presence in the mobile industry over time.