Sliced Bread

Toast - BlackBerry SmartphonesHow did the company behind the revolutionary BlackBerry smartphone lose its grip on the handset market? The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates with special guest, Sir Stephen Fry, who has remained 'faithful' to the BlackBerry brand. Alongside them is the entrepreneur, Sam White, who at the end of the show has to reach her own conclusions on why BlackBerry handsets disappeared, based only on what she has just heard and her own business acumen. The first BlackBerry device freed business executives from their desks, allowing them to easily write, send and receive emails from almost anywhere. But that was not the only thing that made the BlackBerry, and its later iterations, extraordinary. The actor, comedian, author and broadcaster, Sir Stephen Fry, also used to be a tech blogger and wrote in glowing terms about BlackBerry devices...until they took a turn for the worse. Stephen explains why he was disappointed by a brand he loves and how he still hopes it might make a return. Jim Balsillie was a co-chief executive officer at Research in Motion, the company that created BlackBerry, and offers his insight into how it quickly became a $20billion business and why he felt compelled to resign from such a tremendously successful venture. The entrepreneur and tech blogger, Kevin Michaluk, witnessed how BlackBerry handsets soared and then sank. He's made a successful career out of building "spiritual successors" to them but can his attempts to bring them back under the original brand prove successful? The podcast version of this episode, available on BBC Sounds, includes a bonus interview at the end with Sir Stephen Fry on how he feels about technology and social media today. Produced by Jon Douglas / BBC Audio North

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