Research in Motion went from a sleepy Canadian backwater to the world's most innovative and fastest growing phone company in no time. Now, with its Blackberry business all but stalled, the company's future has never looked more uncertain.
FORTUNE -- If aliens had disembarked at Orlando's Marriott Hotel in early May, they would have probably thought the BlackBerry the latest and greatest technology on Earth. Everywhere, devotees tapped away at their glossy black smartphones' keyboards. Banners hanging on the walls extolled the Blackberry's superior security features and "amazingly fast" Internet browser. Thousands lined up to hear the confab's leader -- Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins -- unveil the future.
Observant visitors might quickly have realized they didn't land at a typical business convention, though, but at a conference for RIM (RIMM) developers -- the diehard of the diehard. And, worse, that many of the attendees also had Apple (AAPL) iPhones and Google (GOOG) Android devices stashed in their pockets, like contraband. They might have even heard the whispers of disappointment ripple through the crowd in response to Heins' meager announcements. They would have surely realized that, in fact, the BlackBerry is not ascendant -- but that it is fighting for its life.
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