BlackBerry
It's from 1999, before you were born.
- Maker
- Research In Motion (RIM)
- Type
- Smartphone / mobile email device
- Debuted
- 1999
- Note
- Nickname: CrackBerry, for obvious reasons
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About
As of 2026, it's 27 years old.
The BlackBerry showed up in 1999 and put email in your pocket, which sounds harmless until you remember it also invented the habit of checking work messages at the dinner table. That clicky little QWERTY keyboard let people thumb-type novels, and the blinking red light trained an entire generation to twitch on command.
It became so addictive it earned the nickname 'CrackBerry,' and for a glorious stretch it was the undisputed status symbol of anyone important enough to be reachable at all times.
The BlackBerry was the device that made us all available 24/7, then watched in horror as the touchscreen ate its lunch.
