The BlackBerry Device Family Past and Present
| To fully appreciate the BlackBerry 7100, it's helpful to understand how it fits into the BlackBerry device family. This is important because the 7100 has, in many ways, evolved from the BlackBerry devices that came before it. Although the BlackBerry operating system has evolved considerably over the years , many of the devices have remained relatively unchanged in terms of their appearances . This is a testament to the fact that the devices were well-designed to begin with. The 7100 is by far the most dramatic departure from the familiar, rugged, rectangular BlackBerry device profile. The earliest BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry 950, was released by RIM in 1998 as a pure text-messaging device that supports two-way text messaging on the Mobitex pager network developed by Ericsson. The BlackBerry 950 built on RIM's original Interactive Pager, released in 1996 as the first two-way messaging pager. The BlackBerry 950 put RIM on the map and allowed it to jump from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol RIMM in 1999. Also in 1999, RIM expanded the BlackBerry product line with the BlackBerry 850, as well as the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) software for wireless corporate email integration. Throughout 2000 and 2001, the BlackBerry family of text-messaging devices built steam and developed a loyal corporate user base while picking up numerous technological awards along the way. In 2002, a new generation of BlackBerry devices was introduced to support mobile phone features. Models included the 5810, 6710, 6720, 6510, and 6750. The 6510 was unique in that it supports Nextel's walkie-talkie feature, while the 6750 supports the speedy CDMA2000 3g network standard. The only drawback to this generation of devices is their use of a monochrome screen, which severely inhibits serious mobile web browsing. However, the devices were on par with other mobile devices of the day, so the monochrome screen wasn't perceived as a weakness. In 2003, RIM's status as a technology player increased when it was promoted to the NASDAQ-100 Index, putting it in the top 100 companies listed on the NASDAQ. That year, RIM also introduced the 6200 series of devices, which were to be the last new BlackBerry devices with monochrome screens. Quickly on the heels of the 6200 series arrived the first color BlackBerry devices in the 7200 and 7700 series. The year 2004 represented a significant milestone in the history of RIM: It celebrated its 20th anniversary by crossing the one million subscriber mark. And less than 10 months later, still in 2004, the BlackBerry subscriber count doubled to more than two million usersan impressive level of growth by any standard. Perhaps more importantly to this discussion, in 2004 RIM released the 7100 and 7500 series of devices, with the former being the first device to adopt a look and feel more closely approximating a mobile phone. The 7100 series of BlackBerry devices were code-named "Charm" devices when they were under development, and you occasionally still see them referred to by that name on the Web. As of this writing, the latest development in the BlackBerry saga is the long-awaited release of version 4.0 of the BlackBerry operating system, which hit the street in early 2005. Unfortunately, version 4.0 was released between the releases of some of the 7100 models, so users of the first 7100 series devices (7100t and 7100r, for example) will have to manually upgrade their devices to the 4.0 operating system. This turns out to be a fairly simple tasksee the section later in this chapter titled "Upgrading Your Device to the Latest BlackBerry OS." Now that we've arrived at the 7100 series of devices in the storied history of the BlackBerry platform, it's worth clarifying exactly why I have to refer to the devices as a series as opposed to a single device. There are actually a few different devices with the 7100 name, and some of them look surprisingly different from each other. For example, the 7100t (T-Mobile in the United States) and 7100v (Vodafone in Europe and Asia-Pacific) aren't even shaped the same, although they do hold to roughly the same dimensions. To understand how the 7100 series of devices represents such a departure for RIM in terms of form factor, take a look at the 7780, which follows the more traditional square shape of BlackBerry text-messaging devices. Getting back to the 7100 series, as of this writing there are five 7100 devices, each of which is tailored to the specific wireless service providers that offer it:
The BlackBerry 7100t, which is available from T-Mobile in the United States, packs the functionality of a larger BlackBerry device into the slim form factor of a mobile phone. The BlackBerry 7100v, which is available from Vodafone in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, is similar in size to the 7100t but with much straighter lines. Undoubtedly, even more BlackBerry 7100 devices will roll out, especially in the United States, as wireless providers scramble to keep up with each other and meet user demand for the first "BlackBerry phone." The BlackBerry 7780 offers features similar to the 7100 series of devices, but its shape Sand size make it considerably less appealing as a mobile phone replacement. |
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