Losing the signal : the spectacular rise and fall of BlackBerry

Losing the Signal tells the story of the rapid rise and fall of BlackBerry, whose share of the U.S. phone market fell from 50 percent in 2009 to less than one percent in 2014. "In 2009, BlackBerry controlled half of the smartphone market. Today that number is less than one percent. What went so wrong? Losing 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 test: 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"-- PROLOGUE REACH OF THE TOP ENCHANTED FOREST STAYING ALIVE LEAP SPREADING THE GOSPEL TOP THIS EL CAMINO GAME OF PHONES ROCKET DOCKET THE JESUS PHONE STORM OFFSIDE DISCONNECT GOAT RODEO FAULT LINES WATERLOO SPRING HANGING UP EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTES INDEX Jim Balsillie fidgeted with his phone as his Dassault Falcon jet touched down at Dubai's international airport.