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 NEWSTop ten technology innovators: Mike Lazaridis By Scott Tyler Shafer February 27, 2002 1:01 pm PT  RARELY DO YOU run across a CEO who can eloquently articulate both the benefits of Sun's J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) and the four partial differential equations developed by 19th-century physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Mike Lazaridis is one who can. As founder and co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), Lazaridis has been paramount in creating wireless devices that are easy to use and extremely useful -- a claim only a few others can make.
"In the early days of developing the BlackBerry, our employees were embarrassed to admit they were taking them home to use," Lazaridis explains. "It was pretty big back then. That is why people then called it the 'hamburger.' " No longer built in a clam shell-like packaging, the five wireless BlackBerry devices available today look nothing like hamburgers; they are stylish and elegant tools that have won over millions of users. Originally created to provide information technologists with e-mail access, the BlackBerry is a hit in the banking, legal, military, and government industries as well, and it will probably gain even more popularity later this year when voice capabilities are complete. But to Lazaridis the continuing success of the device is not a big surprise. "We have a saying here at RIM. It is 'doing your math,' " he says. "Our culture is to double-check, check twice, and ask customers before we undertake changes. If we work long enough we know users will find value in our products." Lazaridis says the company has been successful with BlackBerry because it listens to what customers want and then adds those functions after testing and retesting. Some of those advancements include embedded antennas as well as the use of internal rechargeable lithium batteries. His philosophy made it easy for Lazaridis and company to rewrite all of their proprietary applications last year for Sun's J2ME. "The wireless community adopted J2ME as a standard, and we decided to implement it to expand the number of developers who could port apps to our device," Lazaridis adds. Of course, RIM began researching the idea four years ago. Now it is voice. "Our customers told us they wanted voice in the BlackBerry when they need it, and that is what we did," Lazaridis says. The company will start using a 2.5G (2.5 generation) wireless voice and data network-- a GPRS/GSM (General Packet Radio Service/Global System for Mobile communications) -- to make calls on the BlackBerry. Currently, RIM is offering a voice-enabled device in the United Kingdom and plans to bring it to the United States in the first half of 2002. And when it does, BlackBerry users will be able to make phone calls no matter where they are, as the number of networks available worldwide to deliver service grows from two to 166. But Lazaridis isn't all technology all the time. He, his co-CEO Jim Balsillie, and COO Doug Fregin have formed the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Located in Waterloo, the city where Lazaridis was born, the institute advances the study of foundational theoretical physics. Lazaridis fronted $20 million to initially fund the research institute and will donate $80 million more during the next year. "What we have and enjoy today is a result of physics discoveries," Lazaridis explains. "Maxwell's equations are an example of physics discoveries that have been commercialized. Marconi invented wireless transmissions from Maxwell's discoveries." Return to our 2002 Innovators package.  Profile
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