Behind the scenes at BlackBerry, in photos

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  • Welcome to BlackBerry

    Welcome to BlackBerry

    I spent two days in snowy Waterloo, Ontario talking to the design team behind the hardware and software in the new BlackBerry Z10 and the upcoming Q10 in the first buildings of the new campus, including the new BlackBerry 'experience centre'.

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • BlackBerry headquarters in the old corporate style

    BlackBerry headquarters in the old corporate style

    BlackBerry has nearly two dozen buildings and one factory scattered across Waterloo. The company is moving from its blocky, anonymous buildings — many still displaying the RIM logo — onto a new campus designed with what CEO Thorsten Heins calls "the BlackBerry look".

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • Todd Wood in the BlackBerry Experience Centre

    Todd Wood in the BlackBerry Experience Centre

    And an new campus is not the only building BlackBerry is interested in: design inspiration for the new BlackBerry look came from classics like the Farnsworth House, a Mies van der Rohe building design VP Todd Wood (above) described as "the epitome of modern architecture and minimal design."

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • A kiosk advertising the LTE BlackBerry Torch inside BlackBerry headquarters

    A kiosk advertising the LTE BlackBerry Torch inside BlackBerry headquarters

    Although BlackBerry 10 is the future, the older new BlackBerrys are also in evidence around the buildings, like this display in a reception area.

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • Cases of BlackBerry themed swag – all with the new name

    Cases of BlackBerry themed swag – all with the new name

    The new company name is on some buildings already - and it's definitely on the water bottles, USB sticks and T-shirts employees can treat themselves to.

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • Continuous improvement on the BlackBerry line

    Continuous improvement on the BlackBerry line

    The assembly line where BlackBerry made the first Z10s follows the Japanese kaizen system where workers suggest process improvements. When the process is perfected, BlackBerry hands it over to the factories where the BlackBerrys you can buy are built. 

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • Waterloo Communitech incubator

    Waterloo Communitech incubator

    Some of the BlackBerry developer relations team are in the Communitech startup incubator and accelerator in Waterloo every day, which BlackBerry co-funds with Google and local universities. That encourages startups that might only think of iOS and Android to develop for BlackBerry 10 as well. 

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

  • The future is - BlackBerry

    The future is - BlackBerry

    Although we saw plenty of iPhones and Android phones in use as we visited shops and businesses in the area, we also saw dedicated BlackBerry sections in big box tech stores like Futureshop.

    Caption by: Mary Branscombe

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A new name, a new phone, a new campus: how BlackBerry is reinventing itself.

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Welcome to BlackBerry

I spent two days in snowy Waterloo, Ontario talking to the design team behind the hardware and software in the new BlackBerry Z10 and the upcoming Q10 in the first buildings of the new campus, including the new BlackBerry 'experience centre'.

Caption by: Mary Branscombe

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