1999: Research in Motion Ltd. ( RIMM) is listed on the NASDAQ and raises $250 million at its IPO. RIM introduces the BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld, putting together email, wireless data networks, and a small keyboard.

November 2001: A group of Illinois-based inventors files a lawsuit in a U.S. Federal Court accusing RIM of building its wireless email network by infringing on patents held by American patent company NTP Inc. of Virginia. The judge ruled in favor of NTP and ordered RIM to pay $23.1 million.



Photo: (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

August 2003: A judge issues an injunction banning sales of the BlackBerry in the U.S. However, the ruling is stayed when RIM files an appeal.



Photo: Jim Balsillie, Chairman and co-CEO of RIM, wears a BlackBerry during his speech at the C3 Expo. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

March 2006: RIM and NTP reach a settlement in their patent dispute. RIM agrees to pay NTP $612.5 million to settle for a "perpetual, paid-up license going forward." RIM is now allowed to sell all of its products and services without additional royalty payments to NTP.



Photo: Henry Bunsow, right, attorney for RIM, speaks with reporters along with RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, left, after a federal court hearing in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

December 2007: RIM announces that its total BlackBerry subscriber base has passed the 12-million mark; revenue doubled to $1.67 billion.



Photo: David Neeleman, left, founder and chairman of JetBlue, and Eric Ritter, a director with RIM, use their BlackBerry devices during a media preview flight aboard "BetaBlue," an Airbus A320 aircraft equipped with an onboard wireless network. RIM's fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smartphones and related services by consumers and businesses. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

April 2008: RIM opens its online store, App World, to compete with Apple's App Store.



Photo: A show attendee walks past the RIM booth at the International CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

May 2008: RIM introduces the Bold, which has double the screen resolution of the Curve model. It matches resolution, but not size, of Apple's iPhone.



Photo: RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie poses for the media during the launch of BlackBerry Bold in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

November 2008: RIM launches the BlackBerry Storm. The touchscreen phone is RIM's first attempt at selling a smartphone without the company's signature miniature keyboard, and it gets a lukewarm reception.



Photo: The BlackBerry Storm2 for Verizon is shown in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Russel A. Daniels)

August 2009: According to Fortune, RIM is declared the world's fastest-growing company with an average sales growth of 77% over the previous three years.



Photo: Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, addresses the National Summit in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

August 2010: RIM launches the BlackBerry Torch smartphone with a touchscreen and slide-out keyboard.



Photo: A customer looks at a BlackBerry Torch at a Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

September 2010: RIM previews PlayBook, its first tablet computer. Powerd by a QNX-based (Unix-like) operating system, it aims to compete with Apple's iPad.



Photo: Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, shows the BlackBerry PlayBook as he provides an update on the latest BlackBerry product developments during the GITEX exhibition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

April 2011: RIM launches PlayBook, a tablet computer, to compete with Apple's iPad. The PlayBook receives unfavorable reviews and suffers from poor sales.



Photo: RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis addresses the audience during the BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Roberto Gonzalez)

June 2011: RIM reports profits of $695 million and forecasts profits of $5.25 to $6 a share in its first-quarter earnings, well below analysts’ expectations. RIM’s shares fall nearly 15% in after-hours trading.



Photo: (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Dave Chidley)

July 2011: RIM announces its plan for eliminating 2,000 jobs — over 10% of its work force.



Photo: (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

October 2011: Started on October 10, a three-day service outage affected over 70 million BlackBerry users all over the world.



Photo: A dummy BlackBerry handset stands at a shop in Hyderabad, India. Large numbers of BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have been cut off from Internet and messaging services. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

December 2011: RIM announces plans for strategic changes to improve the performance of the company. Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis agree to reduce their own annual pay to $1.



Photo: RIM campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

January 2012: Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis resign. Former COO Thorsten Heins is named RIM's new president and CEO.



Photo: (AP Photo)

May 2012: RIM hires investment banks J.P Morgan Securities and RBC Capital Markets to help review the company's business and financial performance.



Photo: (AP Photo/Timur Emek)

June 2012: RIM announces that the release of its BlackBerry 10 smartphone will be delayed until 2013. It also announces its plan to cut 5,000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year, which is about 30% of its workforce.



Photo: Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of RIM, delivers the keynote speech during the BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

September 2012: RIM announces that its subscriber base had grown by two million in the last quarter. Shares of the company rose after the announcement at its developer conference. With the BlackBerry 10, RIM is looking overseas, especially to Africa, to improve its sales due to their shrinking market share in North America.



Photo: Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of RIM, smiles after talking about the messenger capabilities of the new BlackBerry 10 at the BlackBerry Jam Americas conference in San Jose. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)