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Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry
THE BASIS FOR IFC FILMS' BLACKBERRYNamed a Best Business Book by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Financial Times, and more The riveting, true story of the BlackBerry empire—and how it would eventually come crumbling down in the wake of the smartphone revolution"One helluva story.” ―Toronto StarLosing the Signal is a riveting story of a company that toppled global giants before succumbing to the ruthlessly competitive forces of Silicon Valley. This is not a conventional tale of modern business failure by fraud and greed. The rise and fall of BlackBerry reveals the dangerous speed at which innovators race along the information superhighway. With unprecedented access to key players, senior executives, directors and competitors, Losing the Signal unveils the remarkable rise of a company that started above a bagel store in Ontario. At the heart of the story is an unlikely partnership between a visionary engineer, Mike Lazaridis, and an abrasive Harvard Business school grad, Jim Balsillie. Together, they engineered a pioneering pocket email device that became the tool of choice for presidents and CEOs. The partnership enjoyed only a brief moment on top of the world, however. At the very moment BlackBerry was ranked the world's fastest growing company internal feuds and chaotic growth crippled the company as it faced its gravest Apple and Google's entry in to mobile phones. Expertly told by acclaimed journalists, Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, this is an entertaining, whirlwind narrative that goes behind the scenes to reveal one of the most compelling business stories of the new century.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2015
About the author
Jacquie McNish
4 books45 followersJacquie McNish was born in Peterborough, Ontario, shortly after which she moved with her family through a series of leafy suburbs in the United States and Canada.
She has spent her professional career in Toronto and New York with The Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail. She is the author or co-author of four books, the latest of which is: Losing The Signal, The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry.
When not in the attic writing she likes to cycle along Lake Ontario.
She has spent her professional career in Toronto and New York with The Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail. She is the author or co-author of four books, the latest of which is: Losing The Signal, The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry.
When not in the attic writing she likes to cycle along Lake Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews
March 10, 2016
I worked at BlackBerry from 2007-2012. I was in a technical role, part of a small group that had a wide scope and interacted with many people at senior levels in the company. I had a close up view of the rise and fall of BlackBerry, joining about a year before the peak and leaving before it hit bottom. (Good timing? I guess so.)
I’ve been itching to read this, but was reluctant to pay the full price of $14.99. I’m cheap like that. Finally found it on sale in January.
It was fascinating reading - the beginning of RIM was slow and it teetered on the financial edge many times. Reading about the backgrounds of Lazaridis and Basillie was fascinating. By the time I joined in 2007, tensions were high, and even to the rank and file, it was obvious that they were no longer working together. I reported up to Lazaridis, never to Basillie; it was eye opening to read about Jim’s ruthlessness. I’m horrified by the tactics, yet admire the guts it takes to act like that. I was there for the NTP patent settlement, the backdated options, the Storm failure, the QNX acquisition, Mike & Jim’s resignations and the start of Thorsten’s tenure. The true misery (and large scale layoffs) started in 2011 and kept going. It was so painful to watch a Canadian success story stumble and fail. I was proud to work for a successful Canadian company, doing hardware design, the stuff I love. It was clear by 2010 that Mike had started to lose touch with reality. We got contradictory guidance from Mike, from our VP. No one worked together - trying to persuade teams to contribute was like walking a field of landmines, you never know when you were going to step on one. There was in-fighting amongst the various VPs. It was vicious at times. The projects I worked on fell victim to this and RIMs rapid fall, and all the products I was working on were cancelled. (Rightly so. RIM needed to focus on getting the BB10 software out.) I have mixed feelings about my time at RIM - there were high highs and crushing lows. I’m proud of the work we did, sad to see what has happened. I have some hope that John Chen will lead BlackBerry out of the pit, or at least hold steady.
In terms of accuracy, the book seems well researched. The people quoted are all senior (E-level) execs. Most of it lines up with my experiences. There are some gems (sarcasm) left out - I’m sure there are others that I don’t know about.
Losing the Signal is a compelling read. I found it engrossing, hard to put down. Is that because the players and action are all familiar to me? Perhaps.
Bought from kobo
I’ve been itching to read this, but was reluctant to pay the full price of $14.99. I’m cheap like that. Finally found it on sale in January.
It was fascinating reading - the beginning of RIM was slow and it teetered on the financial edge many times. Reading about the backgrounds of Lazaridis and Basillie was fascinating. By the time I joined in 2007, tensions were high, and even to the rank and file, it was obvious that they were no longer working together. I reported up to Lazaridis, never to Basillie; it was eye opening to read about Jim’s ruthlessness. I’m horrified by the tactics, yet admire the guts it takes to act like that. I was there for the NTP patent settlement, the backdated options, the Storm failure, the QNX acquisition, Mike & Jim’s resignations and the start of Thorsten’s tenure. The true misery (and large scale layoffs) started in 2011 and kept going. It was so painful to watch a Canadian success story stumble and fail. I was proud to work for a successful Canadian company, doing hardware design, the stuff I love. It was clear by 2010 that Mike had started to lose touch with reality. We got contradictory guidance from Mike, from our VP. No one worked together - trying to persuade teams to contribute was like walking a field of landmines, you never know when you were going to step on one. There was in-fighting amongst the various VPs. It was vicious at times. The projects I worked on fell victim to this and RIMs rapid fall, and all the products I was working on were cancelled. (Rightly so. RIM needed to focus on getting the BB10 software out.) I have mixed feelings about my time at RIM - there were high highs and crushing lows. I’m proud of the work we did, sad to see what has happened. I have some hope that John Chen will lead BlackBerry out of the pit, or at least hold steady.
In terms of accuracy, the book seems well researched. The people quoted are all senior (E-level) execs. Most of it lines up with my experiences. There are some gems (sarcasm) left out - I’m sure there are others that I don’t know about.
Losing the Signal is a compelling read. I found it engrossing, hard to put down. Is that because the players and action are all familiar to me? Perhaps.
Bought from kobo
August 10, 2015
OK, I admit it, I really love my Blackberry (still). My attempt at the iPhone ended so badly that I gave it to my daughter (who hated it as much as I did and promptly swapped it for an Android), so yes, I'm not a fan of the iPhone, unlike seemingly every other person on the planet.
So I've always been curious how a company with such an awesome product as Blackberry could go so wrong.
Overall this is a pretty fascinating look into how the fate of RIM played out as driven by the two founders' personalities and dynamics, and a lot of it will feel very familiar to anyone who has been through extreme growth and/or worked closely with founders, or been a founder. And yes, much of this book is definitely entertaining in the way that hindsight always is, because it's pretty easy to say "well, wow that was a dumb thing to do/decision to make" after it's all over. And some of it (like the part about Palm vs Blackberry) are roll your eyes laugh out loud funny. But as anyone with any experience knows, it can be damned hard to know what to do in the middle of the fray, and a lot of "right" decisions have a lot more to do with dumb luck than we sometimes want to admit, so there are quite a few good lessons here that many now successful companies would do well to take to heart.
This book also seemed a bit one-sided, so not sure if this is really the whole story, but interesting and I felt like I learned a few things, so I'd say well worth the read.
So I've always been curious how a company with such an awesome product as Blackberry could go so wrong.
Overall this is a pretty fascinating look into how the fate of RIM played out as driven by the two founders' personalities and dynamics, and a lot of it will feel very familiar to anyone who has been through extreme growth and/or worked closely with founders, or been a founder. And yes, much of this book is definitely entertaining in the way that hindsight always is, because it's pretty easy to say "well, wow that was a dumb thing to do/decision to make" after it's all over. And some of it (like the part about Palm vs Blackberry) are roll your eyes laugh out loud funny. But as anyone with any experience knows, it can be damned hard to know what to do in the middle of the fray, and a lot of "right" decisions have a lot more to do with dumb luck than we sometimes want to admit, so there are quite a few good lessons here that many now successful companies would do well to take to heart.
This book also seemed a bit one-sided, so not sure if this is really the whole story, but interesting and I felt like I learned a few things, so I'd say well worth the read.
November 14, 2015
This is a scary book for any successful company founder. It is stunning how quickly you can squander your company by over-confidence and lack of listening.
June 13, 2015
This is the story of a Canadian Company RIM whose first office was above a bagel store in Ontario. The authors tell the story of visionary engineer, Mike Lazaridis, and an abrasive Harvard Business school graduate, Jim Balsillie. Together they engineered a pioneering packet email device that became the tool of choice for business executives.
At the very moment Blackberry was ranked the world’s fastest growing company, internal feuds and chaotic growth crippled the company as it faced the entry of Apple and Google into the market of mobile phones. The authors provide an overview of the phone and mobile phone industry and how it works with other companies that want to use their networks. It also provides a brief review of how data is transmitted on the phone companies’ networks.
The authors are journalist, therefore the story reads like a nonjudgmental news story that presents the facts. It is well written, entertaining and reveals the behind the scene information about RIM. The book also provides a good overview of the smart phone industry. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. William Hughes narrates the book.
At the very moment Blackberry was ranked the world’s fastest growing company, internal feuds and chaotic growth crippled the company as it faced the entry of Apple and Google into the market of mobile phones. The authors provide an overview of the phone and mobile phone industry and how it works with other companies that want to use their networks. It also provides a brief review of how data is transmitted on the phone companies’ networks.
The authors are journalist, therefore the story reads like a nonjudgmental news story that presents the facts. It is well written, entertaining and reveals the behind the scene information about RIM. The book also provides a good overview of the smart phone industry. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. William Hughes narrates the book.
June 26, 2015
Losing the Signal is an enjoyable telling of the rise and fall of BlackBerry, built around the success and eventual failure of Research in Motion's two founders, the visionary engineer Mike Lazaridis and the super aggressive salesman and deal maker Jim Balsillie. The ultimate collapse is due in part to their poor management and bad decisions as they tried to respond to the rapidly changing landscape in the world of mobile communication. With the entry of Apple and Google into the mobile phone market, the fate of RIM (now BlackBerry) was assured given the lack of management skills and competing strategies of these two men.
The book is enjoyable for a variety of reasons: It's a good insight into the huge rewards for ground breaking innovation in the tech world; it's also a good insight into the need for continual, rapid innovation (innovate or die). It's a good character study of two capable men whose flaws and differing viewpoints led to their undoing. And it's a good review of the rapid changes in mobile communication (now mobile computing) for those of us who may forget a world where--not too long ago--email was restricted to a desktop computer, and other forms of two-way messaging were far from a reality (yes, a pager was once a big deal).
So Losing the Signal is an insight into recent tech history; it's a human drama; and it's a cautionary tale with frequent you-are-there descriptions of encounters, meetings, and decision making because the writers have done extensive research and interviews with the principals. The chapters are built around important ideas and turning points, and the chapter titles signal that drama will unfold (e.g., "Staying Alive"..."The Jesus Phone"..."Disconnect"..."Fault Lines"...). This structure and the titles make for compelling reading, but I was sometimes lost in the chronology as time frames shift back and forth as the book progresses. A timeline in an appendix would be a good addition.
The book is enjoyable for a variety of reasons: It's a good insight into the huge rewards for ground breaking innovation in the tech world; it's also a good insight into the need for continual, rapid innovation (innovate or die). It's a good character study of two capable men whose flaws and differing viewpoints led to their undoing. And it's a good review of the rapid changes in mobile communication (now mobile computing) for those of us who may forget a world where--not too long ago--email was restricted to a desktop computer, and other forms of two-way messaging were far from a reality (yes, a pager was once a big deal).
So Losing the Signal is an insight into recent tech history; it's a human drama; and it's a cautionary tale with frequent you-are-there descriptions of encounters, meetings, and decision making because the writers have done extensive research and interviews with the principals. The chapters are built around important ideas and turning points, and the chapter titles signal that drama will unfold (e.g., "Staying Alive"..."The Jesus Phone"..."Disconnect"..."Fault Lines"...). This structure and the titles make for compelling reading, but I was sometimes lost in the chronology as time frames shift back and forth as the book progresses. A timeline in an appendix would be a good addition.
June 20, 2019
I never had a Blackberry. I never knew much about them, honestly. I knew they were called “crackberry” by the executive-types who couldn’t put them down, back in their pre-Apple heyday. I knew Hillary Clinton wouldn’t give hers up, and that was fodder for scoffing at her. I never knew WHY though, for either of those factoids. Now that I do, I kinda wish that Blackberry won the smartphone wars. They kept cost low, and security high, and they cared about network bandwidth, and battery life. Consumers flocked to the flashier, spendthrift, bright and shiny Apple/Android, and now we accept that sometimes things just don’t work, and that batteries go dead, and everything costs so ridiculously much.
This book tells the story of Blackberry, from the first bright idea of a couple of guys wishing they could communicate more easily and inventing texting/instant messaging. They were brilliant, and they made it work beautifully, and they flew high and proud and made tons of money. And then the market grew, competitors had their own bright ideas, and things really fell apart for Blackberry. (Spoiler?) Anyway, by the end of this book, they have restructured as a much smaller company, and who knows? They could fly high again someday. The author here makes a good case for seeing Blackberry’s fall as a direct result of the cofounder/coCEO’s personal shortcomings in terms of market perception, personality, and communication. Under new leadership, maybe Blackberry can focus on their core business, excel, and market themselves successfully.
From Losing the Signal:
Perhaps the most telling remark was when Lazaridis declared that the three “defining characteristics of the tablet market” would be security, reliability, and multitasking. Lazaridis had it wrong. What Apple was teaching the mobile market was that consumers cared about three different things: style, content, and easy use.
Comic from 10 years ago:
(1987)
Me: Tell me my future.
Psychic: You will have a phone that costs $800.
Me: So, I’m rich?
Psychic: (snorts laughter) No.
This book tells the story of Blackberry, from the first bright idea of a couple of guys wishing they could communicate more easily and inventing texting/instant messaging. They were brilliant, and they made it work beautifully, and they flew high and proud and made tons of money. And then the market grew, competitors had their own bright ideas, and things really fell apart for Blackberry. (Spoiler?) Anyway, by the end of this book, they have restructured as a much smaller company, and who knows? They could fly high again someday. The author here makes a good case for seeing Blackberry’s fall as a direct result of the cofounder/coCEO’s personal shortcomings in terms of market perception, personality, and communication. Under new leadership, maybe Blackberry can focus on their core business, excel, and market themselves successfully.
From Losing the Signal:
Perhaps the most telling remark was when Lazaridis declared that the three “defining characteristics of the tablet market” would be security, reliability, and multitasking. Lazaridis had it wrong. What Apple was teaching the mobile market was that consumers cared about three different things: style, content, and easy use.
Comic from 10 years ago:
(1987)
Me: Tell me my future.
Psychic: You will have a phone that costs $800.
Me: So, I’m rich?
Psychic: (snorts laughter) No.
December 4, 2019
Losing the signal is a story of Blackberry showing the nature of the technology industry. It depicts the company’s rise and fall which happened in a very short period of time. It was one of the fastest technology races from 1999 when the first BlackBerry was introduced until 2013 when its business collapsed. In this period the company went from zero to 20 billion dollars to today’s one billion. One of the most important facts, worth mentioning is that BlackBerry is a Canadian company which played a significant, even iconic, role in its tech sector.
Many think that the birth of this company was a starting point for the Canadian tech industry as this was the moment when a few people decided to compete with giants, such as Motorola and Nokia. They started pretty slow as a pager company amongst other companies already on the Canadian market, but the feature that made them outstanding was a keyboard. This allowed bringing the internet to your palm. In the beginning, they targeted lawyers, bankers and other elite business people which was another great move as Blackberry became a symbol of somebody important. Next, when people like Oprah and Madonna started waving and saying that this device is awesome, the company gained its publicity and recognition.
So Blackberry became a global brand and everyone had to have it, including the most powerful people, on screen and in the White House. The company changed the way we communicate and introduced two new Canadian CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. Nevertheless, technology kept evolving and Steve Jobs was on the hunt. All of a sudden blackberry stuck in time and its market share collapsed. Meanwhile, the 15-year-old business partnership has split up.
The book goes through the whole story of the company and the classic innovator’s dilemma. They invented a product that everyone loved, they changed our lives how we work how we communicate. Soon the two CEOs enjoyed being on top of the hill for a brief period of time and got the attention of the big Silicon Valley predators, such as Apple and Google and later Korean Samsung. In January 2007 Steve Jobs walked onto a stage and pointed at Blackberry by saying that he is going into the smartphone market which will be bigger than computers. Then Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie looked at the iPhone and heavily underestimated it because they thought that carriers would not be able to carry the capacity the iPhone would generate.
The book is also a bit biographical as it talks a lot about the two very different CEOs. Mike Lazaridis since he was a kid was the boy wizard. He spent a lot of his childhood in his parents’ basement doing all sorts of amazing things. He was confident that he was going to create things that were going to reinvent the world.
On the other hand, Jim Balsillie from an early age was a very intelligent leader and very much an outsider. He wasn’t good at school, nevertheless, he decided to follow the established route to success. He studied accounting and later got an MBA at Harvard.
The story of these two people is compelling and interesting. Is shows how two completely different characters were running the company. Mike Lazaridis, who didn’t understand business...(if you like to read my full review please visit my blog https://leadersarereaders.blog/losing...)
Many think that the birth of this company was a starting point for the Canadian tech industry as this was the moment when a few people decided to compete with giants, such as Motorola and Nokia. They started pretty slow as a pager company amongst other companies already on the Canadian market, but the feature that made them outstanding was a keyboard. This allowed bringing the internet to your palm. In the beginning, they targeted lawyers, bankers and other elite business people which was another great move as Blackberry became a symbol of somebody important. Next, when people like Oprah and Madonna started waving and saying that this device is awesome, the company gained its publicity and recognition.
So Blackberry became a global brand and everyone had to have it, including the most powerful people, on screen and in the White House. The company changed the way we communicate and introduced two new Canadian CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. Nevertheless, technology kept evolving and Steve Jobs was on the hunt. All of a sudden blackberry stuck in time and its market share collapsed. Meanwhile, the 15-year-old business partnership has split up.
The book goes through the whole story of the company and the classic innovator’s dilemma. They invented a product that everyone loved, they changed our lives how we work how we communicate. Soon the two CEOs enjoyed being on top of the hill for a brief period of time and got the attention of the big Silicon Valley predators, such as Apple and Google and later Korean Samsung. In January 2007 Steve Jobs walked onto a stage and pointed at Blackberry by saying that he is going into the smartphone market which will be bigger than computers. Then Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie looked at the iPhone and heavily underestimated it because they thought that carriers would not be able to carry the capacity the iPhone would generate.
The book is also a bit biographical as it talks a lot about the two very different CEOs. Mike Lazaridis since he was a kid was the boy wizard. He spent a lot of his childhood in his parents’ basement doing all sorts of amazing things. He was confident that he was going to create things that were going to reinvent the world.
On the other hand, Jim Balsillie from an early age was a very intelligent leader and very much an outsider. He wasn’t good at school, nevertheless, he decided to follow the established route to success. He studied accounting and later got an MBA at Harvard.
The story of these two people is compelling and interesting. Is shows how two completely different characters were running the company. Mike Lazaridis, who didn’t understand business...(if you like to read my full review please visit my blog https://leadersarereaders.blog/losing...)
June 14, 2015
An insightful account of the rise and fall of BlackBerry. While its travails may seem self-evident to anyone with an Android or Apple phone, the author reminds the reader just how impenetrable Blackberry's market dominance seemed as recently as 2006. Ultimately, the founders, Balsillie and Lazardis come across as hopelessly inept at running their company-- a classic case of founder's syndrome. The demise of BlackBerry is a painful account, and McNish does a great job detailing every barb along the way.
Anyone who has ever worked in a failing technology startup will wince at least a few times reading this book.
Highly recommended.
Anyone who has ever worked in a failing technology startup will wince at least a few times reading this book.
Highly recommended.
May 14, 2015
This is a great book. Every MBA/Business person should read it. Gives a great account. I couldn't put it down.
The only issue is it doesn't give you lessons from this and you have to work it out for yourself. But that was find with me.
The only issue is it doesn't give you lessons from this and you have to work it out for yourself. But that was find with me.
June 6, 2015
Fascinating
This book is well written and fast paced. Technology is just a hobby for me but RIM's story is one of triumph but ultimately failure. Regardless of brand loyalty the deeper story was something I never knew and was an interesting read.
This book is well written and fast paced. Technology is just a hobby for me but RIM's story is one of triumph but ultimately failure. Regardless of brand loyalty the deeper story was something I never knew and was an interesting read.
June 15, 2015
I think every MBA student should read it and learn from it.
September 9, 2022
Spoiler alert - the boat sinks.
This was a fantastic business read! I am in awe at the founders grit, tenacity, and work ethic.
The author is skilled at describing personalities and interrelationships. I thought they relied on a few worn tropes in the early chapters which made me roll my eyes. Surely I will do better when I write a saga about a storied Canadian business! HA!
At times I felt frustrated with the author’s attempts to describe / simplify the technology involved. For example, when iPhone was loved by consumers for having “wifi, a free local network application”. This is possibly the most confusing way to just say “internet access”. And, when comparing blackberries to early pagers, they said that one device “received and sent” messages and the other device just “captured” messages. Does that mean received? Why do we need a third verb?
I would have liked to walk away with a better understanding of the wireless spectrum, auctions, access, etc.
This review sounds harsh, but I really liked this book and wholeheartedly recommend.
This was a fantastic business read! I am in awe at the founders grit, tenacity, and work ethic.
The author is skilled at describing personalities and interrelationships. I thought they relied on a few worn tropes in the early chapters which made me roll my eyes. Surely I will do better when I write a saga about a storied Canadian business! HA!
At times I felt frustrated with the author’s attempts to describe / simplify the technology involved. For example, when iPhone was loved by consumers for having “wifi, a free local network application”. This is possibly the most confusing way to just say “internet access”. And, when comparing blackberries to early pagers, they said that one device “received and sent” messages and the other device just “captured” messages. Does that mean received? Why do we need a third verb?
I would have liked to walk away with a better understanding of the wireless spectrum, auctions, access, etc.
This review sounds harsh, but I really liked this book and wholeheartedly recommend.
July 22, 2020
Well written book, well researched it gives a great insights in the rise and fall of Blackberry, especially the boardroom fiasco that we don't see in the public and some of the governance challenges they faced especially having co-ceos as well as having two chairmen of the board. The fall of blackberry is a classic example for Business school case study on the challenges in governance as well as product strategy and crisis management. I feel these were some of the key reasons that led to the fall of Blackberry.
June 5, 2024
Losing the Signal is an enjoyable read—largely because it resonates with my own experiences, especially due to its geographic proximity. As a business history, it is uniquely compelling and engaging in a genre that is too often self-serving and self-aggrandising.
The authors have masterfully crafted an entertaining story, drawing vivid details from extensive interviews.
From the start, the authors face the challenge of capturing RIM's promising past without overshadowing its current struggles. They deftly manage this balance, providing a solid narrative. However, there's always a sense of 'this was the decision at the time, but we can see where the seeds of the longer-term demise were sown. It's a challenge they can't entirely avoid.
The characterisation leads one to admire Lazaridis (genuine, hardware-focused wizard—inevitably able to grasp a world beyond the hardware) and feel less sympathetic towards Balsillie (brash, arrogant, and immoral).
The authors have masterfully crafted an entertaining story, drawing vivid details from extensive interviews.
From the start, the authors face the challenge of capturing RIM's promising past without overshadowing its current struggles. They deftly manage this balance, providing a solid narrative. However, there's always a sense of 'this was the decision at the time, but we can see where the seeds of the longer-term demise were sown. It's a challenge they can't entirely avoid.
The characterisation leads one to admire Lazaridis (genuine, hardware-focused wizard—inevitably able to grasp a world beyond the hardware) and feel less sympathetic towards Balsillie (brash, arrogant, and immoral).
June 8, 2015
An excellent post-mortem on an erstwhile tech behemoth. I loved the reporting, writing, and insider quotes. This is a meticulously researched yet fast-moving account of bureaucracy and rapid disruption. Well done.
(Disclaimer: the publisher sent me a copy of the book for a potential review and/or interview.)
(Disclaimer: the publisher sent me a copy of the book for a potential review and/or interview.)
April 29, 2024
Losing the Signal is as the subtitle notes “The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry”. Before reading this, I didn’t know Research in Motion was a Canadian company, registered in 1984, with two co-founders, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie.
Once RIM finalized the focus of its BlackBerry device: mobile email, it took off in 1999 with a stream of corporate clients including Merrill Lynch and Dell, along with several celebrities. As popularity and praise for the device grew, it gained the nickname Crackberry for its addictiveness. In 2000, company growth exploded — On average, RIM was hiring 2 people a day to keep up with demand.
As we’ve seen with other corporate successes, what goes up often comes down and BlackBerry was no exception. The company didn’t always listen to the market, especially when Apple released the iPhone and Google announced Android. Lack of incorporating consumer demand and sharp differences among the the co-founders and executive team began to impact RIM as a company. There had been highs but there were now more lows and ultimately, this led to the fall of a once well-loved, tech company.
Losing the Signal was an interesting read that would make a good case study in business classes. Though it seems well-researched, the book did begin to feel a bit dry. There are lessons to be had related to market demand and feedback, innovation, listening, and corporate culture — 3.5 stars
Once RIM finalized the focus of its BlackBerry device: mobile email, it took off in 1999 with a stream of corporate clients including Merrill Lynch and Dell, along with several celebrities. As popularity and praise for the device grew, it gained the nickname Crackberry for its addictiveness. In 2000, company growth exploded — On average, RIM was hiring 2 people a day to keep up with demand.
As we’ve seen with other corporate successes, what goes up often comes down and BlackBerry was no exception. The company didn’t always listen to the market, especially when Apple released the iPhone and Google announced Android. Lack of incorporating consumer demand and sharp differences among the the co-founders and executive team began to impact RIM as a company. There had been highs but there were now more lows and ultimately, this led to the fall of a once well-loved, tech company.
Losing the Signal was an interesting read that would make a good case study in business classes. Though it seems well-researched, the book did begin to feel a bit dry. There are lessons to be had related to market demand and feedback, innovation, listening, and corporate culture — 3.5 stars
August 4, 2023
It was really cool to learn about how much impact Lazaridis and Balsillie have had on UW and Waterloo region. There is so much history behind many iconic buildings and institutions that I pass by or interact with daily. Despite what happened to BlackBerry, it's still a legacy to be proud of if you ask me.
"For years Lazaridis and Balsillie had bravely battled everyone from the Topper to Steve Jobs. Now, it seemed, all they had left to fight was each other."
"For years Lazaridis and Balsillie had bravely battled everyone from the Topper to Steve Jobs. Now, it seemed, all they had left to fight was each other."
September 9, 2017
This book provided a very good write up of the rise and fall of RIM/Blackberry. If you're at all interested in what happened I highly recommend this book.
May 31, 2023
I had my blackberry till 2016 because my dad worked there and wouldnt let me get anything else. It was nice for a bit but it was slow and everyone started to move on to the iPhone and Android phones. I never really understood what happened - I just knew the blackberrys were out of fashion, but I have a better understanding that the mismanagement of innovations and missed targets on customer trends led to the downfall of the phone. Im excited to watch the movie, maybe I'll watch it with my dad
Read
December 2, 2023So incredibly male
March 26, 2017
A tech darling and downfall, Canadian-style.
Light on the technology, and not as thoughtful or reflective as I'd expected, but it is a great walkthrough of RIM's founders, product development, and the turning points for the company and wireless markets.
A few lessons from BlackBerry's breakthroughs and near-demise:
- RIM grew, but never matured. The leadership, culture, and structure that help small businesses make it big are fundamentally different from the qualities needed for a big company to stay at the top. RIM needed corporate evolution just as much or more than product line evolution to stay healthy long-term.
- RIM hit one out-of-the-park, but couldn't hit another. It's tough to innovate on a timeline. And doubly so when a group is saddled with 'baggage' from previous successes.
- RIM didn't recognize the danger of being a single-product company. Post-breakthrough, it's natural to sink everything you have into support and scaling up. But when you've fully scaled to meet all demand, it's past time to diversify.
- When RIM realized they were in trouble, they worried more about timelines than products. It may be easier to recover from a product gap or product delay, than a truly bad product (exhibit A: Storm).
- Apple's strategy of beauty and convenience, and Android's strategy of scale and openness both walloped RIM's strategy of efficiency once the effect of being first-to-market wore off. One breakthrough product from a competitor can burn even the best long-term strategy to the ground.
p. 100 "RIM's initial Relay system may have been ingenious, but it was a makeshift wonder. It was located in a modestly sized server room, and it occasionally ran over a laptop belonging to one of the system's architects when it needed to be debugged. The server room was sometimes used as a thoroughfare; the network once went down after an employee tripped over a power cord. ... always figured the Relay system was a preliminary, temporary setup that would be replaced with a more powerful system to accommodate tomorrow's increased traffic. What he and everyone else at RIM failed to anticipate was how fast tomorrow would come."
p.149 "Lazaridis and Balsillie had more urgent concerns than Apple's new phone. They were scrambling to feed a world hungry for BlackBerrys".
p.152 "RIM now faced an adversary it didn't understand. ... Apple changed the competitive landscape by shifting the raison d'etre of smartphones from something that was functional to a product that was beautiful. 'RIM was caught incredulous that people wanted to buy this thing.'"
p. 202 "'It turned into a goat rodeo ... We became collectively ineffective at moving from the idea stage to the conversion of an idea into a commercial success for anything other than devices.'"
p. 277 "If the rise and fall of BlackBerry teaches us anything it is that the race for innovation has no finish line, and that winners and losers can change places in an instant."
Light on the technology, and not as thoughtful or reflective as I'd expected, but it is a great walkthrough of RIM's founders, product development, and the turning points for the company and wireless markets.
A few lessons from BlackBerry's breakthroughs and near-demise:
- RIM grew, but never matured. The leadership, culture, and structure that help small businesses make it big are fundamentally different from the qualities needed for a big company to stay at the top. RIM needed corporate evolution just as much or more than product line evolution to stay healthy long-term.
- RIM hit one out-of-the-park, but couldn't hit another. It's tough to innovate on a timeline. And doubly so when a group is saddled with 'baggage' from previous successes.
- RIM didn't recognize the danger of being a single-product company. Post-breakthrough, it's natural to sink everything you have into support and scaling up. But when you've fully scaled to meet all demand, it's past time to diversify.
- When RIM realized they were in trouble, they worried more about timelines than products. It may be easier to recover from a product gap or product delay, than a truly bad product (exhibit A: Storm).
- Apple's strategy of beauty and convenience, and Android's strategy of scale and openness both walloped RIM's strategy of efficiency once the effect of being first-to-market wore off. One breakthrough product from a competitor can burn even the best long-term strategy to the ground.
p. 100 "RIM's initial Relay system may have been ingenious, but it was a makeshift wonder. It was located in a modestly sized server room, and it occasionally ran over a laptop belonging to one of the system's architects when it needed to be debugged. The server room was sometimes used as a thoroughfare; the network once went down after an employee tripped over a power cord. ... always figured the Relay system was a preliminary, temporary setup that would be replaced with a more powerful system to accommodate tomorrow's increased traffic. What he and everyone else at RIM failed to anticipate was how fast tomorrow would come."
p.149 "Lazaridis and Balsillie had more urgent concerns than Apple's new phone. They were scrambling to feed a world hungry for BlackBerrys".
p.152 "RIM now faced an adversary it didn't understand. ... Apple changed the competitive landscape by shifting the raison d'etre of smartphones from something that was functional to a product that was beautiful. 'RIM was caught incredulous that people wanted to buy this thing.'"
p. 202 "'It turned into a goat rodeo ... We became collectively ineffective at moving from the idea stage to the conversion of an idea into a commercial success for anything other than devices.'"
p. 277 "If the rise and fall of BlackBerry teaches us anything it is that the race for innovation has no finish line, and that winners and losers can change places in an instant."
June 26, 2015
"Losing the Signal" is a very impressive cautionary tale about the emergence of the BlackBerry as the pre-eminent portable mobile device, and its subsequent fall from grace. As the BlackBerry is still widely available and in use around the world, perhaps "fall" is not exactly the correct word, but certainly it has lost its ranking rather precipitously, to be sure. The authors, Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, do a great job of outlining a series of outright failures that contributed to this decline.
The biggest takeaway from this book is that no one event caused the BlackBerry to be relegated to the second tier of smart mobile devices. Some will cite the advent of the touchscreen, or poor executive leadership, or financial disarray, and certainly all of these things are contributing factors, but individually, they were hurdles that were largely overcome later (or, not at all) than they should have been. There is a section in the book that discusses BlackBerry's stunted web browser; once Apple and Google released their devices that essentially mirrored the computer web browsing experience, that, too, became writing on the wall that BlackBerry had simply fallen behind. And, in that example, Lazaridis and Balsillie were too shortsighted in advancing their version of the software, until they absolutely had to.
When discussing just how large BlackBerry once was to where it had dropped to, there is no getting around its financial situation. The company had gotten into trouble for essentially forecasting future share prices, drawing the ire of regulatory bodies, naturally, which served as an unnecessary distraction for a tech company that should have been squarely focussed on what brought them to the dance -- the technology itself. The same can be said for Balsillie's foray into trying to become a hockey team owner, which became awash in a
morass of frustrating complications that hurt his image and the de facto image of Research In Motion. Distractions such as these, and others, painted a picture of a company that seemed to lose its way from being so innovative and inventive.
Without question, virtually everyone still knows people who use BlackBerry devices, so the rumors of the company's demise have been greatly exagerrated. Or, have they? The BlackBerry corporation of today is very different without the two mavericks that started the company at the helm. If BlackBerry was treading water before, it's at least stable in being afloat now. But, that's still a very long way from its days of former glory. Great writing from the authors and highly recommended.
The biggest takeaway from this book is that no one event caused the BlackBerry to be relegated to the second tier of smart mobile devices. Some will cite the advent of the touchscreen, or poor executive leadership, or financial disarray, and certainly all of these things are contributing factors, but individually, they were hurdles that were largely overcome later (or, not at all) than they should have been. There is a section in the book that discusses BlackBerry's stunted web browser; once Apple and Google released their devices that essentially mirrored the computer web browsing experience, that, too, became writing on the wall that BlackBerry had simply fallen behind. And, in that example, Lazaridis and Balsillie were too shortsighted in advancing their version of the software, until they absolutely had to.
When discussing just how large BlackBerry once was to where it had dropped to, there is no getting around its financial situation. The company had gotten into trouble for essentially forecasting future share prices, drawing the ire of regulatory bodies, naturally, which served as an unnecessary distraction for a tech company that should have been squarely focussed on what brought them to the dance -- the technology itself. The same can be said for Balsillie's foray into trying to become a hockey team owner, which became awash in a
morass of frustrating complications that hurt his image and the de facto image of Research In Motion. Distractions such as these, and others, painted a picture of a company that seemed to lose its way from being so innovative and inventive.
Without question, virtually everyone still knows people who use BlackBerry devices, so the rumors of the company's demise have been greatly exagerrated. Or, have they? The BlackBerry corporation of today is very different without the two mavericks that started the company at the helm. If BlackBerry was treading water before, it's at least stable in being afloat now. But, that's still a very long way from its days of former glory. Great writing from the authors and highly recommended.
August 4, 2015
What a great book!
Having worked (many years ago) in the wireless business before "wireless" meant phones (beepers and pagers), I have enjoyed following the industry as a consumer. I had long hoped that someone would write this book.
I remember when the first BlackBerry hit the market. I remember getting my first work-issued BlackBerry, a 6510, a dozen years ago. I, too, quickly became addicted to my "CrackBerry". I was also one of those people that waited in line, overnight, in 2007 to be one of the first to get the new iPhone. I wondered for how much longer I would love my BlackBerry.
The authors tell the story of how Research in Motion created one of the first iconic products of the internet age and how the co-CEOs (and eventually co-chairs of the board) Lazaridis and Balsillie succeeded even when they probably shouldn't have and how they failed to lead the company when they were needed most. During the last few years of their reign I followed the company pretty closely. This book helped fill in a lot of the gaps from those days.
The authors put it best in the final lines of the book:
"The race for innovation has no finish line."
"Winners and losers can change places in an instant."
Having worked (many years ago) in the wireless business before "wireless" meant phones (beepers and pagers), I have enjoyed following the industry as a consumer. I had long hoped that someone would write this book.
I remember when the first BlackBerry hit the market. I remember getting my first work-issued BlackBerry, a 6510, a dozen years ago. I, too, quickly became addicted to my "CrackBerry". I was also one of those people that waited in line, overnight, in 2007 to be one of the first to get the new iPhone. I wondered for how much longer I would love my BlackBerry.
The authors tell the story of how Research in Motion created one of the first iconic products of the internet age and how the co-CEOs (and eventually co-chairs of the board) Lazaridis and Balsillie succeeded even when they probably shouldn't have and how they failed to lead the company when they were needed most. During the last few years of their reign I followed the company pretty closely. This book helped fill in a lot of the gaps from those days.
The authors put it best in the final lines of the book:
"The race for innovation has no finish line."
"Winners and losers can change places in an instant."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2015
I was a big fan of Blackberry a few years ago. This book is a fascinating look at how the people running RIM totally dropped the ball when the Iphone came out. The section on the Storm debacle is amazing. RIM had to rush the phone because they were too late responding to Apple's take on smartphones. They were arrogant. Very interesting how RIM basically screwed over Verizon, it is no surprise that they now have no support in the US. I can't believe that a company that was once so successful could fall so far. A great read.
October 15, 2015
If you're interested in the Tech world, this is a pretty interesting story. BlackBerry was a major player in the cell phone and smartphone game, they had a seemingly-unbeatable lead when Apple announced the iPhone in 2007 and took the world by storm. The book tells the story of BlackBerry's amazing rise and their surprising fall. It was a small startup that became a $20 Billion company, matching Apple's start in many ways.
May 25, 2015
The narrative was great. More than just a story about blackberry, but it's about how a company found a niche offering and the hurdles it needed to overcome. I also learned a lot about the mobile industry as a whole, and found answers to questions that I've had for a while? "Why wasn't BBM offered on iPhones?" You'll learn why.
June 15, 2015
A well written story in the familiar mold of a big business "Rise and Fall of" tale. Better than many in this genre as the authors show considerable empathy for the founders of RIM even as they objectively describe their blind spots and the onrushing challenges from technological progress in general and much more deep-pocketed competitors specifically.
July 13, 2015
Interesting and captivating read.
Speaks of the dangers of growing too quickly, imbalanced incentives, and not ensuring product-market fit.
There must be a very substantial other side to this story, because I don't think that RIM would have discounted the necessity of understanding customer values as routinely as this book suggests.
Speaks of the dangers of growing too quickly, imbalanced incentives, and not ensuring product-market fit.
There must be a very substantial other side to this story, because I don't think that RIM would have discounted the necessity of understanding customer values as routinely as this book suggests.
May 29, 2015
A dramatic narrative and unabashedly Canadian. Fast, entertaining read.
June 13, 2015
"Losing the Signal" is the Holy Grail of disruptive tech. You can't put a price on the lessons learned in this book.
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