‘BlackBerry’ Recap: ‘Part III’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton as Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie in ‘Part III’ of ‘BlackBerry’. (Photo Courtesy of AMC.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Series Finale of ‘BlackBerry’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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When we last settled in to discuss the fascinating AMC/AMC+ series, BlackBerry, we pondered upon whether nor not cutting corners and making strange deals and decisions to bring BlackBerry to prominence is what helped lead to the company’s outright downfall. Because the good people at RIM, while brilliant and clearly gifted… really did take part in some shady acts and some lightning-fast decisions to bring the company to the top of the smartphone food chain. The kind that had the real potential to rip this company to shreds and destroy the legacy that Mike and Jim hoped to build, and as it turned out… that was indeed part of what brought this company to its knees.

For third and final chapter in this story, saw the chickens come home to roost for Jim. Who really, cut the most corners and made the strangest decisions of all, by backdating stock options to recruit top talent. Which… the SEC finally caught wind of and that led… to an ugly ending to Jim’s time at RIM. Because that brought the SEC to RIM’s doorstep, and since Jim was off trying to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins to eventually move them to Canada, a move that failed when the league got wind of that plan… Mike was stuck dealing with the SEC and that evidence. Which prompted Mike to just turn Jim over to the SEC and try to keep BlackBerry rolling.

Which he did, but let’s be honest, their strange relationship was a big reason why the company was able to be successful. Since Mike was the brains that brought about incredible ideas, while Jim handled the business side of things and well, with Jim basically out of the picture for this entire tale… everything fell to Mike and that pressure, combined with ignorance and arrogance, helped to bring about BlackBerry’s eventual end. For this episode also featured the moment when the iPhone was announced to the world. Which of course captivated everyone and led to a revolution in the smartphone industry. But at RIM on that day, it did nothing but offend Mike. To the point where he doubled down on BlackBerry’s design and the importance that RIM was the one that brought this product to market.

But when his new invention, a trackpad on the faceplate instead of the ball, fell flat at a Verizon meeting… he panicked. For he simply had to be seen as an innovator, a leader, and rather than properly find a way to adapt the product line to compliment the iPhone or perhaps eventually overtake it… he simply offered a clone. One that had to be rushed into production, and one that had to be outsourced to China. Something that Mike swore he would never do. And that led… to the end of Doug’s time at the company, because he saw his friend become a businessman overnight and shun what made the company great… and it also led to the end of BlackBerry. For the Storm, the iPhone clone, was a terrible product, and cost the company an unwholesome amount of cash.

However, that was merely the nail in the coffin for RIM and BlackBerry. Because it was indeed the corners that Jim cut that put the company in jeopardy to begin with, since it ruined the integrity of the company. And Mike’s ego and need to be viewed as a genius, and decision to not innovate and become complacent only added to the disaster and took out a company and a product that people did love. For few in the world didn’t have a BlackBerry all that long ago. Making this, a powerful and cautionary tale. One that speaks to how just wanting to be the best and make a splash isn’t enough in this life to really make that happen and make it sustainable, and hopefully people learn from this story and do the opposite, so their product not only changes the world, but dominates a la what rose from the ashes of BlackBerry’s burn out.

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