RIM BlackBerry -- Then and Now

2003 saw the development of the BlackBerry 7730 smartphone (top right), which features a large, bright color screen and support for worldwide international roaming on GSM/GPRS networks.

In 2002, RIM developed the BlackBerry 6720 (bottom right) featuring an integrated speaker/microphone and international roaming capabilities operating on GSM/GPRS wireless networks. The compact, lightweight BlackBerry 6220 (bottom left) and the color BlackBerry 7230 smartphone (top left) hit the market in 2003.

RIM introduced the BlackBerry 7290 smartphone featuring quad-band and Bluetooth support, a brighter screen and enhanced memory (bottom left) in 2004, followed by the BlackBerry 7130 Wireless Handset Series (bottom right) in 2005.

RIM also launched the BlackBerry 8700 Wireless Handset Series (bottom left) in 2005. The Pearl 8100 series (top right) and the BlackBerry 8800 smartphone series (bottom right) were unveiled in 2007.

The BlackBerry Curve 8300 series (bottom left), which features support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, was also launched in 2007. The first BlackBerry smartphone to feature a flip-form factor, the Pearl Flip 8220 (top right) and the first BlackBerry smartphone to feature a touch screen, the Storm smartphone (bottom right) both hit shelves in 2008.

BlackBerry, brainchild of 25-year-old technology development company Research In Motion (RIM), celebrated the opening of its new offices in North Sydney this week.

BlackBerry is now ten years old and has around 20 million subscribers worldwide.