Research in Motion Research in Motion (RIM) is the company behind BlackBerry, the best-selling smart-phone brand in the United States. RIM went public in 1997 and introduced the first BlackBerry two years later—a bulky corporate paging device that ran off an AA battery to read e-mail. Today, the company is credited with launching the handheld smartphone craze and the obsession with 24/7/365 access to e-mail and the Internet. BlackBerry eventually earned the nickname, “Crack Berry,” as consumers became addicted to their latest technological gadget. The obsession started with RIM founder Mike Lazaridis, who used to collect business cards from bankers on Wall Street and send college kids to their offices to set them up with the first BlackBerry devices. “It was a puppy dog sale,” Lazaridis says. “‘Take a puppy dog home, and if you don’t like it, bring it back.’ They never come back.” Within a few years the BlackBerry had become a Wall Street staple, and after September 11, 2001, it gained nationwide attention as a critical security and communications device for the government.