The fact that the name BlackBerry is now often used to describe any smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard is a testament to the strength of the original concept. However, the very first BlackBerry, released in 1999, was not a phone at all, but rather a PDA with a paging function.

The first BlackBerry smartphone was released in 2002, and became an instant success, propelling RIM from being a small company on the fringes of the PDA market to being market leaders almost overnight.

With a BlackBerry smartphone, you could send and receive phone calls, text messages, faxes, and emails, and browse the internet wherever you were.

Although there were already several devices on the market, most notably the popular Nokia 9000, that combined a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile phone to give it full PDA functionality, the BlackBerry smartphone introduced a number of innovations which allowed it to steal a march on its rivals within the business market.

The most exciting feature of the BlackBerry was its ability to send and receive emails on the move, using a technique known as push emailing. In a nutshell, push emailing allows you to use your works email account anywhere in the world, with automatic updating and downloading of new messages and contacts between the main server and the BlackBerry.

Another signature feature of the Blackberry was the control surface, which incorporated a small QWERTY keyboard optimised for use with the thumbs alone, and a fascia-mounted tracker ball for navigation, which replaced the side mounted track wheel found on earlier devices.

Some models featured a Push-to-Talk function, which effectively turned the unit into a two way intercom system across long distances, which took the concept of the portable office that one stage further.

Companies who employ a lot of roaming staff found BlackBerries to be a perfect way to achieve office-style integration within a more flexible spatial framework. Keen executives and workaholics were delighted that they could now stay in touch and carry on working while on the move, and as a result the units became an increasingly popular sight on public transportation during office hours.

One of the great advantages of the BlackBerry email system is that messages could be written and replied to in circumstances where reception is less than optimal, such as on a train, as the unit can queue information to be sent and received whenever transmission is possible.

Another unique feature of the BlackBerry is the trilateration function, which acts kind of like a GPS device, but using the pattern of wireless signals between transmitters to pinpoint locations. This was particularly handy if you needed to find a member of your workforce in a hurry, or for identifying the location of people you are trying to meet in a busy place such as an airport.