BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as
Research In Motion Limited (
RIM), is a Canadian
telecommunication and
wireless equipment company best known to the general public as the developer of the
BlackBerry brand of
smartphones and
tablets, but also well known worldwide as a provider of secure and high reliability software for industrial applications and
mobile device management (MDM).
QNX, a subsidiary of BlackBerry, is widely recognised as a leader in automotive software industry. BlackBerry's software and hardware products are used worldwide by various government's agencies and by car makers and industrial plants throughout the world, much of this activity being unseen by the public. The company is headquartered in
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by
Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin in 1984. Mr. Fregin later left the company. In 1992 Mr. Lazaridis hired Jim Balsillie, and Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Balsillie served as co-
CEOs until January 22, 2012. In November 2013,
John S. Chen took over as CEO. His strategy is to subcontract manufacturing to
Foxconn, and to focus on software technology.