NAMES
How the BlackBerry Got Its Name
A new feature film, BlackBerry, debuted at SXSW in March and will open in theaters nationally on May 12. Based on true events, the film tells the story of the rocky start, meteoric rise, and ignominious fall of the BlackBerry cellphone, which— years before the iPhone — permanently changed our expectations of mobile communications. Imagine: a single, secure device for sending and receiving emails and conducting phone conversations! Your flip phone couldn’t do that.
Oprah trilled the BlackBerry’s praises on her talk show. President Obama fought and won “a vigorous battle with his handlers” to keep his BlackBerry after he entered the White House. Corporate honchos and minions alike were in thrall to the BlackBerry’s always-on allure. Not merely popular, the BlackBerry was addictive. Its nickname was CrackBerry.
I’d been a BlackBerry fan myself — oh, how I loved its little keyboard — and so I seized the opportunity to see BlackBerry in mid-April at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film is delightful and a little surreal, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Part of its appeal is that, like the BlackBerry itself, it was made in Canada by Canadians, far from Silicon Valley or Hollywood. That little-guy-bucking-the-Establishment quality is both endearing and refreshing.
