BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) since 1999.[2][3]BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more. They are primarily known for their ability to send and receive (push) email and instant messages while maintaining a high level of security through on-device message encryption. BlackBerry devices support a large variety of instant messaging features, including BlackBerry Messenger.
BlackBerry accounts for 3% of mobile device sales worldwide in 2011, making its manufacturer RIM the sixth most popular device maker (25% of mobile device sales are smartphones).[4] The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.[5] As of October 2011, there were seventy million subscribers worldwide to BlackBerry.[6] At present the Caribbean and Latin America, have the highest penetrations of BlackBerry smartphones worldwide – with up to about 45 per cent in the region having a RIM device.[7]
