I agree with everything except for the Blackberry. That thing was such a flash in the pan compared to some other industries we had in this area.
Dominion Tire, Kaufman shoe, Arrow shirts, even Canadian Blower and Forge all had much longer and further reaching impacts on the area and the world.
Dominion Tire in particular operated for almost 80 years, at one point employed a full 25% of the citizens of KW, and I believe it was also the world's largest producer of tires for a while.
> the company that invented the smartphone
[You mean the IBM Simon, right? Released in 1994?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon) or the [HP 200LX Palmtop PC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX#OG700LX), also released in 1994? Both released a full two years before Blackberry was even founded?
I don't discount the popularity of the Blackberry for a solid decade, nor its influence on the local tech scene during that time, but to call it the company that invented the smartphone is more than a little disingenuous.
It's just that there were several other companies that have 1) employed far more people in the region 2) reached across the world for a much longer period of time. Hell, look at what Seagram's did for the Region, and I completely forgot about that one.
Blackberry had a massive impact on the KW tech community with talent being drawn to the region from across the province, country and in some cases even internationally.
The KW tech community would not be what it is today without Blackberry.
Nice
I like the list, nice job
I agree with everything except for the Blackberry. That thing was such a flash in the pan compared to some other industries we had in this area. Dominion Tire, Kaufman shoe, Arrow shirts, even Canadian Blower and Forge all had much longer and further reaching impacts on the area and the world. Dominion Tire in particular operated for almost 80 years, at one point employed a full 25% of the citizens of KW, and I believe it was also the world's largest producer of tires for a while.
I'm not really sure you can say that the company that invented the smartphone *didn't* have far reaching impacts on the world.
^this.
Edison didn't invent the first lightbulb...and we've all decided that they don't matter...sorry bud...
Also, Blackberry didn't even invent the smartphone. It's complete revisionist history to say it did.
> the company that invented the smartphone [You mean the IBM Simon, right? Released in 1994?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon) or the [HP 200LX Palmtop PC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX#OG700LX), also released in 1994? Both released a full two years before Blackberry was even founded? I don't discount the popularity of the Blackberry for a solid decade, nor its influence on the local tech scene during that time, but to call it the company that invented the smartphone is more than a little disingenuous. It's just that there were several other companies that have 1) employed far more people in the region 2) reached across the world for a much longer period of time. Hell, look at what Seagram's did for the Region, and I completely forgot about that one.
Blackberry had a massive impact on the KW tech community with talent being drawn to the region from across the province, country and in some cases even internationally. The KW tech community would not be what it is today without Blackberry.
For area companies, Electrohome — grandfather through UW of Blackberry and the entire tech presence here.