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On Tuesday Blackberry announced it was discontinuing the Blackberry Classic smartphone.
I never owned a Blackberry, but my wife did when I first met her 13 years ago. Although she never treated it as a Crackberry, it did seem to follow her everywhere.
The Blackberry ruled the universe for many years. And then one day Apple released the iPhone. The world hasn’t been the same since.
But what really happened at this upstart Canadian company based in the small town of Waterloo, Ontario? Who were the people behind the company’s atmospheric rise and ultimate fall? What choices did they make? How did they relate as leaders and human beings?
This is the subject of last year’s highly touted book, Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry.
Jacquie McNish, one of the book’s coauthors and an award-winning Wall Street Journal reporter, joins me this week to talk about the amazing human story behind Blackberry.
Highlights
- 7:00 Who were the two CEOs–and how did they come together?
- 14:15 Inspired by the Art of War
- 19:30 A revelation about technology while holding a screaming baby
- 22:45 Refusing to play the Wall Street and Silicon Valley games
- 28:30 Dinner with Palm’s CEO, “Topper”
- 32:45 A patent battle stresses the CEO’s relationship
- 36:20 A devastating trauma and betrayal
- 42:45 The Apple/AT&T agreement changes the rules of the game
- 53:45 Waterloo, Ontario: a tech startup ecosystem
Tweet a Quote
Blackberry’s CEOs were connected at the hip in business dealings.
–Jacquie McNish Tweet this quote
Explore Additional Resources
- Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff
- Jacquie McNish on Twitter
- DEC Is Dead: Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation by Ed Schein
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