BlackBerry (2023) Movie Script
1
-I'm thinking of
the incredible breakthrough
which has been made possible by
developments in communications,
particularly the transistor
and above all,
the communications satellite.
These things will
make possible a world
in which we can be in instant
contact with each other,
wherever we may be.
It will be possible in that age,
perhaps only 50 years from now,
for a man to conduct
his business from Tahiti or Bali
just as well
as he could from London.
In fact,
if it proves worthwhile,
almost any executive skill,
any administrative skill,
even any physical skill,
could be made
independent of distance.
When that time comes,
the whole world will have
shrunk to a point.
And the traditional role
of the city
as a meeting place for man
would have ceased to make
any sense.
In fact, men will
no longer commute.
They will communicate.
-Fuck's sake.
-We're not late!
-No, I know,
but I'm going to throw up.
-Okay.
Shit!
-Matt Sundin is the sleepiest
of all out there.
He's proven NHL talent but not
scoring like the Leafs need --
-Your 9:00 is here.
-Where's Brock?
-His office.
-Mr. Balsillie?
You wanted to see this report.
-Talk to Shelly.
-[Muttering]
Integrated circuits...
-Well, I finally understand
that quote,
When you grow up,
your heart dies.
That's from "Breakfast Club."
John Hughes.
-Do you hear that?
[Low hiss]
-Uh, yeah.
You talk about that buzzing?
-Mm.
-It's an office, I'm sure they
got a million little buzzes.
-Mm.
-It's a subtle buzzing.
-There.
-You've identified it.
-Mm.
-What?
Made in China --
the mark of the beast?
[Hissing distorts]
Uh... Um...
Mike?
-I can't concentrate.
-And so what?
Are you going to fix this?
-I'm going to fix it.
-Uh, now's not the time.
The meeting starts in,
like, two minutes.
Now's not the time.
Now's not the time.
Now's not the time.
-Okay?
I need, like, a paper clip.
-That's a guy's thing.
That's a guy's fucking thing.
-It has no off switch.
That means it's always on.
So it's just always buzzing.
-Uh-huh. Yeah.
Um... Well,
Yeah, go fast.
-You can tell him he's
not going -- [chuckles] --
He's not going to get steel.
Alloys, Harry!
I'll call you back.
-They're outside.
-These guys really
are Dutch, huh?
-[Chuckles]
Listen, Rick, I've thought
about this a lot.
And if these guys take the deal,
I want to run the new division.
-Think you can run this place?
-Yes! Yes!
-Me too.
Just so we're clear,
if this thing doesn't go,
we never had this conversation.
-Great. Great. Um...
-Thank you.
-There's one adjustment.
Apparently the Americans
offered them
some fancy tax splitting plan,
so we need to show them
the Canadian version.
-I don't have that.
-No, no.
-Callahan worked
something up last minute.
We're going to bring him in
to explain it.
-Callahan.
Uh...
You know what?
I think that's a bad idea.
-Why is that?
-I tell you what, Rick,
why don't you have
Callahan explain
the tax thing to me
and I'll just -- I'll work it
into my pitch.
I think that's better.
-Kyle was up all night
putting this together
as a favor to me.
He gets to present.
-Rick, I mean...
You're going to have
this guy present to Stork?
I mean, he looks like a..
fucking, a total goof.
-Jim...
I'm not asking.
-Okay, great.
-Okay. Bald, scary looking guy
walking towards us right now.
-God damn it!
-Mike?
-Yeah. Got it.
-Watch the fuck out!
-Oh, shit.
Sit down. Sit down.
-Much better.
-[Sighs]
-Yeah. What can I do for you?
-Yes. Hi.
I'm Mike Lazaridis,
CEO of Research in Motion.
We create various
computer hardware systems
using both custom
design integrated circuits,
as well as off
the shelf components
provided by major hardware
vendors such as Intel,
American Micro Devices
and CYRIX.
Our clients have included
US Robotics,
Rogers Cantel, RAM Mobile.
-Just a second.
[Dialing]
Hey, you're on
Callahan's desk, right?
Okay, great.
This is Jim Balsillie.
Brock wanted me to do
a quick proof of that tax stuff
before the meeting.
Could you bring me a --
Exactly.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Okay, uh, what is this?
-So w-we had a shop teacher...
who told us --
oh, we had a shop teacher
in high school named
Mr. Moshinsky,
who told us the person who puts
a computer inside a phone
will change the world.
Well, we have a plan
to piggyback
on the unused bandwidth
of the UHF spectrum
to create an all
in one mobile device.
[Beep]
-Adam Callahan's assistant
is here to see you?
-Send him in.
Great.
-Sorry, Mr. Balsillie.
No one -- I didn't realize you
needed a copy of
this tax report also --
-I'm in a meeting right now.
Okay.
-So, basically there is
a free
wireless Internet signal
all across North America,
and nobody has figured out
how to use it.
There's free Internet
in this room right now.
-Mm-hmm.
-It's like the force.
Sorry. Have you seen
"Star Wars"?
-No.
-So, okay, picture a pager,
a cell phone and an email
machine, all in one thing.
-We call it, um, Pocket Link.
-Okay, listen, we don't do
anything like that here.
We are a commercial
manufacturing company.
You want to talk
to a VC guy?
And you need a better name.
-You're going to cry?!
Mike!
Oh, it's just disappointment?
-Yeah.
-You did great!
-[Clears throat]
Well, I saw that Rick sent
the limo to pick you guys up.
We must need this merger
worse than I thought.
[Light laughter]
So, I know we have
a lot to cover,
but I thought we should start
with our tax strategy.
Now, I'm sure you heard it
from the Americans,
but let me assure you,
we also know how to
cheat on our taxes
here in Canada.
Okay?
Here's what we can do:
We run payroll out of Ontario,
but we pay all our vendors
from the Netherlands.
We split that fucker
right in half.
The left won't know
what the right is doing.
Plus, we get a nice
little provincial
kickback on manufacturing labor.
We get a massive
federal tax credit
because they don't know whether
they're private or public.
-Beam me aboard!
-Prisoner, and held captive
within the digital world of
the computer itself.
-Riding on any wave
That is the luck you crave
They don't believe it now
They just think it's stupid
So got anything?
Anyone could have done
Who would've cared at all
Not you
Another heart
-Hello?
-Hello!
-Has made the trade
Forget it, forget it
-So, what you're saying is that
you just touch and talk?
-I don't understand
How a heart is a spade
But somehow the vital
connection is made
-You can use your cellular phone
to order me a pizza.
-And that includes
50 minutes of air time.
-We'll page you.
-Well, it's very hip to be
on the Internet right now.
-[Both shouting]
-I still think
Apple has a future.
The way out is not to slash
and burn, it's to innovate.
Riding on anything
Anything's good enough
Who would've thought it of
[Engages parking brake]
-Oh, okay. Here's what I think.
Mike, super simple.
Hit him with the good news,
bad news routine --
good news, bad news routine.
All right? You're going to
say good -- Mike?!
What?
Everything's going to be fine.
We still have
the US Robotics deal.
We're like, what did
the cave say about Aladdin,
"Diamond in the rough"?
Fuck!
-What?
-I forgot the easel.
-No, we have to change the name.
Product needs a new name.
-You're giving that guy
way too much credit, man.
He hasn't seen "Star Wars."
He's bald.
How much you want to bet they
don't even mention the phone.
[Typing, laughter]
-Are you office dad?
-[Laughter]
-Dude. Okay.
Make a make a -- make a thing.
Make a "Scott sucks" --
-I can't.
That's why I'm using
your computer.
-21 boy Canada.
-That's me.
This guy's telling me
about sniffing his --
Sniffing his --
[Door opens]
-Did they buy the phone?
-So, we've got good news
and bad news.
The -- okay,
the bad news is that,
yeah, the presentation,
we were not heard,
and they did not understand
the product,
and so
they did not buy the phone.
-What was the good news?
-What's the good news?
-Emergency movie night,
right now, Steven Spielberg's
"Raiders of the Lost Ark,"
letterbox.
-No way!
-Shotgun. Shotgun. Shotgun.
Shotgun!
-You said their headpiece
only had markings on one side.
Are you absolutely sure?
Balloq's staff is too long.
[All] "We're digging in
the wrong place"!
[Laughter]
[Dramatic music]
-Don't!
-[All] "Bad dates."
-Bad dates.
-Couple of bad dates.
-A couple bad dates!
Couple bad dates!
-That was -- that was there.
Why did they go the other way?
That was like that...
-Mike, you're missing
your favorite movie, man!
-[Sighs]
-Toronto wins it by a count
of 5 to 4.
Doug Gilmour adds three assists
to his five
to finish the game with 30....
...in the extra period.
But obviously the story was --
[Kills engine]
-Are they top or bottom left?
-Go, I got my whole group.
-Send -- Send everything.
Top left.
Let's take.
Let's take a gamble.
We'll go for Scott.
-Does anybody have
a type-c coax?
-They don't even know
I'm not even top left.
-Scott, you're attacking me.
-What?
-You're attacking me.
-Oh, I'm sorry.
-Send the dogs, Ethan,
Send the dogs.
They're rushing.
-Bottom right.
-I'm sending another. Another.
-They got rockets.
I got to run down.
-Anybody have any type c
coax cables?
-Kiss it bye-bye!
-Oh, the plunger is moving!
-No!
-The plunger is moving!
Dude, come on.
[Ringing]
-No! No!
[Bang]
-Ow! Ow!
-Oh!
-I'm sorry, boys!
But it's back!
It's back!
-You had them --
-It's back!
-[Clears throat]
-Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
-Nothing for me.
Thanks.
So I know
how to sell your phone.
I know how to market it, and I
know who we can sell it to.
-Who?
-What do you mean, we?
-Here's the deal.
I will leave my job
at Sutherland Schultz.
If you make me CEO
of Research in Motion.
-Are you serious?
-That was the worst product
pitch I've ever seen in my life.
You guys don't stand
a chance out there.
You need me.
-Sorry. I don't know
who you think you are,
but we are just fine.
We have a $16 million
deal with US Robotics.
-16 million?
-That's right.
-Wow. Okay.
And what did they buy?
-Modems.
Ever heard of them?
-Are they like the force
in "Star Wars"?
-Very funny. You know,
your logo literally is SS.
-And how much have they paid you
on that $16 million?
-Yeah. Nothing.
-Zero?
-Nothing yet.
We haven't delivered the modems.
-Well, we shipped them
product samples months ago,
and their accounting department
won't even return
our phone calls.
-Yeah, but they're gonna --
What's going on?
They're going to pay us.
We have a $16 million deal
with US Robotics.
-Yeah, so, uh, you guys are
getting fucked.
-Why would you -- why do you
think -- why do you say that?
-Well, because I would
do the same thing.
Little operation like yours.
They know they can
withhold payment
till the last possible second
and then crush you.
These guys, they're...
They're pirates.
-Uh-huh...
-We got it. Thank you.
Um...
How do you know anything --
What the fuck do I care?
How much money do you got?
-Yeah, um...
-Okay, guys?
-2.50?
-Here's what I'm going to do.
I will give you
$20,000 cash today.
I'll sell the phone, I'll work
out this problem with USR.
But I want 50% of the company,
and I've got to be CEO.
-That's...
-Are you joking?
No. Obviously. Obviously.
No. No!
-Should I just --
-Mike?
-Okay. Okay.
-Who is in charge here?
-Oh, I mean, technically --
-Mike is in charge,
and he says no.
-I am in charge.
And I say...
-Sorry.
-You don't need to do
what this guy says.
We just met him.
He's not your dad!
-Okay...
-Thanks. Thank you.
-Very sassy man.
Wouldn't you say?
He had a --
He had a sass.
-"Modems, ever heard of those,"
or whatever, like --
-Oh, no. I sassed him too,
but he sassed me back.
Like, what's he trying to say?
We don't have our modem deal?
[Laughs]
[Video game sound effects,
line ringing]
-US Robotics.
How may I direct your call?
-Yeah, it's Mike Lazaridis
from Research in Motion.
We're actually building
some circuit boards
for you guys.
-One moment please.
[Beeping]
-Mike! Is that you?
-Yes, hi.
I was just wondering if --
if it would all --
be at all possible for us to
invoice you
for the first half or third
of our -- your order
from us, if -- if --
can -- can we invoice you
for some some of our --
your order.
-[Laughing] Oh, what?
What?
-If that's okay?
-Did you not get my fax?
-We don't have a fax machine.
-Mike, those modems
you sent us back in March,
they were defective.
-I'm sorry. What?
-Yeah, they didn't work.
We had to cancel
the whole order.
But this was months ago, buddy.
I really thought you guys
had a fax machine.
Hey, I tell you what, why don't
you let me make it up to you?
I'll have USR send you one
free of charge on me. Okay?
-Um... Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
-Great. Okay, well,
good luck, Mike.
-Yeah.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
-What?
Here's what you got to do:
You got to call him back,
you got to
"Glengarry Glen Ross" this guy.
You got to grind him.
-Yeah...
I don't think I can grind him.
-This is exactly what that
Rolex guy said
was going to happen, right?
He predicted it!
What did he say?
He said US Robotics are pirates.
He was fucking dead on.
-Yeah.
[Interference on line]
All right.
-Hey, Steve? Steve?
-Yeah?
-I need the phone line.
-Some guy is trying to say
Noonian Soong is a Q.
-Thank -- yep, thanks.
-All right.
-What are you doing?
-I think we should
take this deal.
-No!
No --
So...
You don't get into business
with people like this.
That guy is sketchy.
-I think he's...
I don't think he's sketchy.
-His business card
is literally sketched out.
The guy's a shark.
-Okay. Do you know...
Do you know who's
afraid of sharks?
Pirates.
Um, so, uh...
We've been talking here,
and we --
We would like to make
a counteroffer.
-You came crawling back
like bugs, like grubs.
-Yeah. So, we would like
to offer you...
10% for...
$500,000.
-Are you out
of your fucking mind?!
I look at 100,000 deals a day!
I pick one!
Is that the quote?
No. I look at 100 deals a day!
I pick one! "Wall Street."
-Okay, uh, w--
uh...
25% for $250,000.
-50% for 50 bucks!
-33% for $125,000,
and you can
run the company with me.
-Mike? No! No!
Yes. Deal. Deal.
-Okay.
-Easy. Dude.
It's going to be
totally fine.
You're going to negotiate
this guy to death.
[Hockey broadcast on television]
-Score!
[Telephone rings]
-Yeah?
-Hi, Jim.
It's Mike Lazaridis
from Research in Motion.
We met at the office
the other day.
So, we'd like
to offer you...
33% of our company for $125,000,
and you and I would be co-CEOs.
-...period.
Couple of them are suspect.
That's their eighth shot of
this hockey game in 6:44.
-Sure.
-That's an improvement.
-Deal.
-Awesome!
Awesome! Dude!
Mike! Scott! Scott?
He did it!
-What do you mean?
-Have you not heard anything
that's been going on
in this room?
-You can have,
like, two minutes
-Maybe you should tell them
about the modems.
-Oh, where do you want to
put him?
-What the fuck is this?
-That's a -- yeah,
everyone builds their own desk.
That's -- that's a tradition.
-Yeah, I'm not doing that.
-US Robotics pulled
out of the deal.
-Told you.
What's our exposure?
-Exposure?
-How much money
did you spend on the modems?
-Oh, $1.6 million.
-One point what?!
-What?!
-Spent $1.6 million
on materials and labor.
-Where did you get $1.6 million?
-I got a loan
from the Bank of Montreal.
-Mike, come on.
-Get me US Robotics!
-S-- Sorry,
who are you talking to?
-Yeah.
[Modem warbling]
-What the fuck is that?
-Oh, it's called a carrier wave.
The calling modem is a --
-Hey! Get off
the fucking Internet!
-Yeah.
-Mike?
-I think it's Casey.
-Uh-huh.
-It's going to be fine, no,
it's going to be fine.
[Ringing]
You don't get to talk
to our team like that.
You just get to talk -
-Mike!
-Hi. Actually, no.
This is Jim Balsillie.
I'm the CEO here now.
-Co-CEO.
-Okay, Jim,
what can I do for you?
-I want to talk
about these modems.
-Well, there's nothing
to talk about, sadly --
w-we can't accept
the defective product.
-Let's cut the bullshit here.
$2.5 million, all in,
for the entire order.
-Yeah. No, can't do it, Jim.
-Then I'll decimate it for you.
$1.6 million.
And if you don't take that,
I'll turn around and sell them
to Rockwell for even less.
-That's negotiation.
-Okay, how about this?
We'll take the modems
if you throw in the patent
on Mike's phone.
-What phone?
-I thought we weren't
bullshitting each other, Jim.
We've been building our own
for a year, we want M--
-How long to build a prototype
of the phone?
-The Pocket Link?
Yeah -- a year.
-No, no, no.
A prototype, Mike.
A shell
I can wave around in a meeting.
It could be
a complete piece of shit.
-No, it --
we're not doing that.
-No, we're...
Mike's not doing that.
-L-listen to me: US Robotics is
building their own phone.
We are now in a race
to get this thing to market,
and we are a year behind.
So I don't care
what you need to do.
Get these fucking nerds
to drop everything
and build this fucking phone!
What?!
-Sorry, guys, um...
My girlfriend tried to cash
my check this morning
and it bounced, and she said
I'm not supposed
to come in here -- allowed --
I shouldn't come
in here anymore.
And she agreed, I won't be
coming in here any longer
until I'm getting paid.
-Whoa!
-[Sighs]
I can fix this.
-Okay, Research in Motion.
It looks like your account has
exceeded its overdraft balance.
-Didn't they just deposit
a check for $125,000 from me?
-Yes.
-Okay. All right.
Um...
I have a mortgage with you guys.
Can we pull that up, please?
-Spell your last name, please.
-B-A-L-S-I-L-L-I-E.
-"Ball-SILLY"?
-"BAHLS-lee"
-Anybody gonna miss this
red chair?
-No.
-You're good.
-Different guys,
different piece.
[Door opens]
-All right, everybody,
listen up.
From now on, checks will be
coming every two weeks.
You will come get them
from Shelly.
This is Shelly.
-Hi.
-All right.
That's you, Shell.
Mike!
-Me too?
-Yeah, sure.
-Sorry. Who --
So, who is Shelly?
[Intercom beeps]
-Shelly?
-Oh, dude,
that thing's haunting you.
-No, I'm motivating you.
And don't call me that thing.
I'm your boss.
-No. No, you're not.
-Yeah?
-Get me John Woodman
at Bell Atlantic.
-You got it.
-Wait, um, what are you doing?
-We are selling the phone.
Mike, I need a prototype.
-I told you, I don't --
-Mike?
[Beep]
-Connecting you.
-Guys, -we are over $1 million
in debt with no assets,
no contracts and no products.
-John Woodman's office.
-Hi, this is Jim Balsillie,
CEO of Research in Motion.
-Co-CEO.
-One moment, please.
-[Mouthing words]
Okay?
-Yeah, I --
-No! He said there's no phone!
-I'm not asking you!
Mike.
-Okay.
-"Okay" --
wh-what do you mean, okay?
No, no, wait. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Wait, wait, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
-John Whitman.
-Mr. Woodman, I am about
to make you insanely rich.
[Click]
-Mike does not agree with this?
-He just fucking did!
-That was duress! Okay?!
You're manipulating him!
It's obvious!
What do you want me to do?
-Uh...
-What?
[Low hiss]
-So there's a reason
why your intercom
is emitting white noise.
It's because it was
manufactured in China
by engineers who didn't care.
And now every office
in the world
has to suffer an annoying hiss,
a blinking red light,
15 different power cords
that are utterly incompatible
with one another.
So we're not doing that.
We are not just adding
to the hiss.
I will build a prototype,
but I'll do it perfectly
or I don't do it.
-Mike, are you familiar
with the saying
"perfect is the enemy of good"?
-Well, good enough
is the enemy of humanity.
-[Sighs]
Shelley, get John Woodman
back on, please.
-So I reach out,
hang up the phone.
He looks up at me like,
"Are you ready to die?"
-[Laughing]
-No, no, no, no.
And I'm prepared to die on it.
Right?
Mike steps in between us,
brings the glasses down
and goes,
"Bitch, I tell you, when we set
the goddamn meeting."
And he backs off.
-Oh!
-All right!
Woodman wants to see it.
We're going to
Bell Atlantic tomorrow.
-Wait, what?
-New York City tomorrow.
-But he said --
-You have till 8:00 a.m.
-T-to do what?
-So, you didn't call him
a bitch, did you?
-Okay. Okay.
Okay, new plan, everybody.
We are all going to chip in
and build this thing tonight.
Okay?
-All right, give me
a Fillmore toggle switch.
Give me 33PF, uh...
-Yeah.
-I think it's like
something kind of
like a hybrid of one.
So I like the...
-I thought you were playing
"Civ."
-We're back.
-I've got something for you.
-That's why to me,
like, remote controls...
-Buttons be small enough that...
-Got some spurs,
neural connections lost.
-You taking it off?
-Yeah.
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
-Yeah.
-So adding the lithium ion
does what...
-Still hot. Still hot.
[Snoring, door opens]
[Horn honking]
-[Groans]
I had a dream we were rich.
[Clattering]
[Sustained honking]
And sometimes my dreams occur
exactly as I dreamt them.
-Let's go!
-What's that from?
-"Dune."
-A-ha!
-You'll get dressed
at the airport.
-Yeah. Thank you.
-Should Doug, come with us or--
-No.
-Because he has a lot
to do with this.
-He's a goof.
Get in the car.
-Yeah, I think
he really wants to come.
-Let me tell you the best
advice I ever got at Harvard.
You want to be great,
you need to sacrifice.
The more painful the sacrifice,
the greater you'll be.
-He -- he's my best friend.
-Okay, great. I saw him put
a toilet plunger on a computer.
[Sighs]
-Attention passengers
on AC42 to New York,
your flight
is now boarding.
-The voice cried softly
Outside the window
[Music continues from radio,
traffic noise]
[Munching loudly]
-Aww, come on.
So, if you hear me
crinkling a piece of paper,
that means stop talking.
-Like, in general or...
-No, in -- [sighs]
In the pitch.
-Oh, yeah. Gotcha.
-Hey, we got to move here, man!
My wife's in labor!
Let's go!
-May -- may I ask why your
business card
had the phone number
crossed out?
-I have no idea
what you're talking about.
-Hey, let's make a deal, okay?
You and I never lie
to each other.
-Sure.
I didn't quit my job.
I was fired.
And I just mortgaged
my house to pay our staff.
So, if this doesn't work out,
I'm fucked.
-Why did they fire you?
-Because they're idiots.
[Elevator dings]
-Hi! Research in Motion?
-How are you?
-Fantastic.
Can I get you anything?
Coffee? Water?
-We're good. We're good.
-Okay.
They'll be with you shortly.
-Okay. Thank you. Great.
-All right.
-Jim?
-No, no, no, no.
Never take the drinks.
Thirst is a display of weakness.
-No, I may have
forgotten the phone.
-Please tell me you're joking.
-No, I'm completely serious.
-Fuck!
-All right,
here's what we're going to do.
I need you to draw out
a little sketch.
-Okay.
-Okay? Something that shows
the keyboard
just like you did in my office.
-Okay. Yeah. Okay.
-Excuse me, miss.
Can I trouble you
for a pen and paper, please?
-They're ready for you.
-Great.
-Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Oh, wait, wait. Here he is.
-Don't worry, okay.
-Hey.
-Hi.
-Hi.
-How are you?
-Good.
Good. We, uh --
are we waiting for anyone?
-I'm alone.
-Okay.
-Good. All right, guys.
Here's how I see it.
All right,
now, I know your marketing team
tells you that you sell
togetherness,
family or staying connected
or whatever,
but let's be honest:
you sell minutes, period.
I mean, your market is minutes,
so your biggest competitor isn't
other cell phone companies,
it's home phones
and office phones.
Those are free minutes.
Those are wasted minutes.
So how do we get
those minutes back?
We reinvent the cell phone.
We put a computer in it.
We put the Internet in it.
We make your cell phone
so fucking useful
that you never have to come
to the office again.
Does email, text messaging,
however you want to communicate;
total individualism
all in one device --
that fits in your fist.
So, you can tell
your marketing team
you're not selling
togetherness anymore.
You're selling self-reliance.
-Uh...
You are not a tech guy,
are you?
-I'm not a --
-The whole world...
The whole fucking world
is trying to do emails
on a cell phone.
We had an entire division
working on it for,
I don't know,
eight months or so.
You know how many phones they
got to work at the same time?
I mean, it's a network
that's built for pagers.
That's all it can do.
You're in la la land on --
[laughs] on this one, you know,
you got -- I think, you know,
some nerds took you for a ride.
-Okay.
Mike?
-What happened?
-It won't work.
-What do you mean it won't work?
-Mike? They tried it already.
-How did you try this already?
-Guys, I think
the meeting's over.
-Did you just put your devices.
directly on the network
as though they were clients?
-That's right.
-Yeah, right.
So what did that get you?
Like, ten phones working
at the same time?
-Uh, yeah.
-Yeah. Okay, here,
just hold this a second.
Okay, so here's your issue.
When -- when you use a phone
as a client, what's it doing?
It's just sitting on your
network constantly asking
the same question:
Did I get an email?
Did I get an email?
Did I get an email?
So it is forever
pulling on your servers
whether you got an email or not.
We have a fix.
Okay?
So we are going to build
a giant computer
that will act as a sort of
massive client
that is hardwired directly
to the Internet
with our phone as server.
Okay, so when a user
gets an email,
Waterloo pulls it in,
packages it,
and then...
sends it.
We engage with your network
maybe a split second, like...
like, less time than that.
-So how -- how much --
I'm sorry, how many --
-A month's worth of traffic
would be less bandwidth
than a local phone call.
So you could have half a million
devices working simultaneously.
-Can we see it?
-Yeah. So it's a prototype.
So it's a long way off from,
um...
Oh, it's just a long,
long way off --
the prototype.
-Well, it's definitely
the world's largest pager.
-No, it's actually the world's
smallest email terminal.
Sorry.
-I see.
This is a...
Oh, this -- this --
Yeah. Oh.
-So, try with your thumbs.
Try typing with your thumbs.
-Oh, yeah.
What do you call it?
-It's called a BlackBerry,
it sends and receives
email messages.
It is also a cell phone.
[Audience cheering]
-In may ways they'll miss
the good old days
Someday, someday
Yeah, it hurts to say
but I want you to stay
Sometimes, sometimes
When we was young,
oh, man, did we have fun
Always, always
Promises, they break before
they're made
Sometimes, sometimes
-Morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-I will do my best
You say you want to stand
by my side
[Stops engine]
-Good morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-Good morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-Mike's here before me?
-He didn't leave last night.
You are mentioned on page nine.
Carl Yankowski from Palm Pilot
keeps calling.
Yeah, well, tell him if he wants
to talk to me,
he can come to Waterloo.
-That's what I said.
Ted Rogers wants to have lunch
in the city. He booked Canoe.
-No, no, I'm not --
I'm not going to fucking Toronto
unless there's a game.
Oh, and call Gary Bettman's
office about those Leaf tickets.
Fucker tried to stick me
in the third row.
-"Fucker, third row."
Got it.
-All right, try 114 and 114.
-Okay. Go for 114.
-Okay. Sending.
[Beeping, cheering]
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Boys!
Done! Done! Yes! Yes! Come on.
-Hey. Hey, Jim.
Yeah, we, uh,
we built a messenger,
fully encrypted
two-way messaging
that is absolutely
inaccessible by anyone,
including us.
It is -- it is --
untrackable, untraceable,
unhackable.
-It's texting.
-Uh -- so -- so, no.
Do you know how much it costs
to send a text message?
-Yeah, 10 cents, and the network
gets every penny.
We're never going
to see that money.
-Right, but these texts
are sent via data.
So, behind the network's back.
Which means...?
-Unlimited free texting,
only on BlackBerry.
Fuck yes!
-Hey!
-Fuck yes!
-I sent a message
that Alexander Graham Bell
said to his assistant,
"Watson, come here."
That's what I --
-Alright, let's just --
Let's just...
-Yeah, yeah.
-Whoa
Come on, yeah
-[Laughing]
What the hell
are you guys doing?!
-As I said,
the story goes
[Cuts music]
-Sorry. Who are you?
-You said if I wanted to talk,
I had to come to Waterloo.
So, here I am.
-Gentlemen...
Meet Carl Yankowski
of Palm Pilot.
-Oh, really.
-[Laughs]
-Doug.
-How are you doing?
-So, I just said three words:
two liter bottle.
And you know what they said?
They said -- [Laughing]
"Carl, nobody drinks
two liters of Mountain Dew."
I mean, they didn't see
what I saw.
Large pizza, big soda,
complete dinner.
We sold a billion liters
in a month!
You playing with yourself
under there, Mikey?
All right, let's clear
the air here.
I had nothing to do with
US Robotics
trying to bankrupt you
back in '96.
Defective modems,
working modems.
Were they defective?
No, it was 100 years ago.
Who's to say?
-Me.
-Exactly.
Here's what we do.
Combine BlackBerry
and Palm Pilot,
one product.
It's the two liter bottle
of smartphones.
-Would I still have complete
control over every aspect
of engineering and design?
-No.
Okay, well, then that's gonna--
we won't be able to move
ahead with this, I'm sorry.
Sorry.
-You guys love saying sorry,
don't you?
Okay, let's see
what you closed at.
$4.50. Oh, God.
Is that Canadian?
US Robotics...
Huh, $83.
Now, that gives us a market cap
about $45 billion.
So what would happen
if I just...
I don't know,
bought up all your shares.
And what's the word
for that again, sport
Hostile takeover.
-Hostile take--
What the fuck?
What is happening?
-We would just say --
we could just say no.
We ow--
We own the company.
-You know, Carl,
you've got a deal.
-Yeah?
-Yeah. Just give us a couple of
months to get our people
taken care of
and then we'll, uh,
we'll agree to a private sale.
-Wait, just --
-Mike, it's okay.
It's okay.
It's better to get rich now
than to fight this guy in court
for the next five years.
-[Laughs] That's right.
You know, I like you.
-You like hockey?
-God, no.
It's moronic.
You?
-Hate it.
-I have come here to chew
bubble gum and kick ass.
And I'm all out of
bubble gum.
-Oh, they based Duke Nukem
on this guy.
[Shotgun blasts]
Like, that is Duke Nukem
for real.
-Okay.
Party's over.
-Has a shotgun.
White male, 30.
-What?
-Listen up.
Turn that thing off, please.
-Wait --
-Can you -- can you --
-Turn it off.
-Al, can you slide it?
-Yeah.
-You guys havin' fun
'Cause we're about to lose
our fucking company.
-What the hell happened
at this lunch?
-Turn that fucking thing off!
Okay?
Yeah, Doug?
-So, my question
is actually for Mike.
How are we supposed to sell
another 500,000 phones
when we are already maxed
on every network we are on?
-You guys will figure it out.
-H-how?
If we put more phones
on these networks,
they're going to crash, period.
We are not allowed
to sell more phones. Mike?
-No, you don't worry
about what's allowed.
I say what's allowed.
-I don't even understand
what the problem is here.
Who cares if this guy
wants to buy our company?
Isn't that good?
-I fucking care!
That's who cares? I care!
I'm trying to keep this company
together, you fuck!
-I'm sorry, do you even know
what a network limit load is?
-Doug...
-Talk to me outside
for a second.
-What?
-What's a network limit load?
-This is impossible.
-What are we supposed to
fucking do, Mike?
Either we jack our stock
to the moon
or Yankowski fucks us!
-Well, Doug is right.
Unless the carriers
rebuild their entire networks,
there's nothing we can do,
the phones use too much data.
-Well, then,
fucking shrink it.
-Yeah, okay. Um...
We -- we looked into that.
-Uh-huh?!
-These guys can't do it.
-What do you mean
they can't do it?
You said they were
the best engineers in the world.
-I said they're
the best engineers in Canada.
-Well, okay. All right.
Who could do it.
-Maybe top guys from Motorola
or Microsoft or Google.
-Okay.
-Wait, what? What? What?
-What are you doing?
-Who else? Where else?
-John Carmack.
Get John Carmack from ID.
Did you guys hear me?
The guy who made "Doom."
-What's "Doom"?
-Have you played "Wolfenstein"?
Please just don't sell
any more phones.
-Can you hear me?
-Yes! Yes!
-Oh, shit.
Hey.
[Music from radio]
[Excited chatter]
-All right. Listen up,
you deadeye dumb fucks.
Sorry to cut your
little vacation short here,
but we got some product to move.
-Product? Can we move?
-I'm sorry. What's that?
Say it again.
-Well, I thought the engineers
said that we maxed
out the networks.
-Yeah, they did, yeah, and
that's their fucking problem.
Okay? Your problem is you need
to sell
a million blackberries
before Q3.
[Laughter]
-Uh. That's --
-"Uh. Uh."
"Uh."
[Chuckles, mocking]
I'm not fucking joking.
I want them gone.
[Chirps]
-[Sighs] Actually talking about
banning these.
-Banning?
-Nobody pays attention
to meetings anymore,
they're crouched over.
-Tell 'em to stop.
-[Laughs] Okay.
We call them Crackberrys.
-Come work for me.
-[Scoffs]
I can't.
-Why?
-Because I'm
under contract here.
-How much to break it.
-Excuse me.
-How much money do you want
to break your contract
with Google?
-I --
[Clears throat]
-I'll give you $1 million
if you sign right now.
-I am not moving to Canada.
We are not having
this conversation.
-$2 million.
-Stop.
-$3 million.
-I need you to leave.
-$10 million.
-Well, you don't
have $10 million.
-This is $1 million option deal.
I will backdate that to when
RIM was trading at $1.
Merrill just gave us
a target of $13.
-Is this legal?
[EDM playing]
-Carl!
-Palm-Berry!
-Yeah. -Hey, listen, I can
barely hear you, buddy.
-I said Palm-Berry,
isn't that great?
-Listen, I'm getting
some static on the line.
Can I, uh -- can I --
can I call you back?
-I can barely hear you.
-What -- Carl?
Okay. I'll call you later.
[Chirps]
-[Indistinct]
-Mike? Mike Lazaridis
-Uh, okay. If Jim fired you,
I can't undo it.
I'm sorry. I've tried.
-No, no. I just got hired.
It's Paul.
-How you doing? Welcome.
Where are you coming from?
-Google.
-Nice. What'd you do?
-I was the, uh, head of
a physical engineering.
-You are not a salesmen anymore.
You're male models.
I want you at every
country club, yacht club,
tennis club,
wherever the elite go, you go.
I want them to see you using it.
[Chiming]
Be big. Be loud.
Have them thinking,
"Who is this annoying prick,
and how can I be more like him?"
-[Laughing]
-What is that?
-And when they ask you,
don't say,
"It's a phone
that does email."
It's not a cell phone.
It's a status symbol.
-Anybody else?
Anybody else? Alright.
-Hi, I'm calling on behalf
of BlackBerry.
I heard that you're interested
in buying some of the Quarks
for your corporation.
-It's 7:55. We're back
with Fox 5 Consumer News.
A global BlackBerry crisis
this morning.
The company says
it's experiencing massive
service interruptions.
The company's helpline says
that users can expect delays
in sending
and receiving messages.
-Yes, yes, we are aware
of the problem
and we are -- we are
sorting it out right now.
-Down over there, Dougie.
-We've been down for this long
before.
Are we totally fucked?
-Hey! Quiet!
-L-let's just keep it down
out here, guys, for a second.
-How many are down?
-Maybe 10,000.
-Oh, Jesus. Okay.
Okay.
[Ringing]
Okay. Okay.
Hello?
-You have a collect call from--
-What the fuck is happening?!
-Will you accept the charges?
Are you still there?
-Yes, I accept.
-Thank you.
-Mike?!
-Hi.
-There are three reasons why
people buy our phones,
do you know what they are?
-For email.
-They fucking work.
-Yeah. Okay. It's not us, Jim.
It's the carrier.
Verizon is doing
something weird.
-Well, I'm about to do
something weird
if you don't fix this now!
The deal was
I get the engineers,
you shrink the data.
-Are you -- are you --
Are you selling more phones?
-What the hell do you think
I've been doing over here, Mike!
We're in the middle
of a hostile fucking takeover.
Do I need to have somebody
babysit you dorks?!
-Okay. Okay. So that's --
Okay, uh, yeah.
The entire system is crashing.
He's selling more phones.
-Hey, Goddamn it!
-Yeah. Yeah.
So, okay.
You know, maybe just
hold off selling more ph--
-I'm not fu--
God!
[Banging]
-Okay. Sorry.
Is this technically legal?
-Eugene!
-I'm actually in a personal
meeting, Charles.
-And I personally don't give
a flying fuck.
Engineering can't do a goddamn
thing until you send that fax.
Now, take a meeting when the
union isn't ripping my guts out.
Do you hear me?
Get it done.
Son of a bitch.
-You said you were located
in Waterloo.
-What is that guy's name?
-Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Research in Motion.
I know this is
a bit disorganized.
I promise we will get
everybody settled.
So in the meantime, we're having
a bit of a network issue,
So put up your hand
if you understand
MOBITEX architecture.
Two people.
Okay. That's fine.
You two, you're with Mike.
The rest of you,
I don't know what you do,
but follow me,
we're taking a tour.
Let's go.
It's going to be a little bit
like Sam Rockwell in
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
-Can I talk to you
for a second?
What is Charles Purdy
doing here?
-I'll get the DVD.
-What are you talking about?
-The man standing
in the hallway
directly over my left shoulder.
-Oh, Jesus.
-Listen to me.
That guy will fuck you up.
Do not let that man
anywhere near
your engineering department.
Trust me.
-Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right.
-I'm serious.
He will fuck your shit up.
-Can I help you?
-You're Mike, aren't you?
-Yes, I'm Mike.
What are you doing here?
-Charles Purdy.
I'm your new COO.
-Oh.
Jim hired you to be the --
Chief...
-I'm here to get this ship
under control.
-We are under control.
-Oh, really? Who's?
Hmm?
-Okay, so then let's try
something different.
Instead of shrinking the data,
maybe we spread it out.
Thank you.
-Well, why not take multiple
towers in the same zone
and split the packet
between them?
We can put it back
together at the server.
-We tried that.
Here's the problem.
The towers don't recognize
one another.
Each one has no idea which piece
of the signal they're receiving.
And the whole process
just keeps.
-Maybe we reprogram
the towers.
-They're not our towers.
We don't control them.
-That's okay.
At Naughty Dog, we had to
hack the PlayStation to get
"Crash Bandicoot" running.
-Okay, so if each exchange
is triangulated,
we could divide
the signal three ways.
-We could actually do way,
way more.
Every BlackBerry is a server.
-We could divide the signal
between every user
in the same grid --
-Divide it by thousands.
It'll be like Napster --
distributed network
of your own users.
-It's got to be in
the terms of service,
Hackers would be on it so fast.
-But they encrypt everything
server side, right?
Mike? I mean,
everything is already encrypted.
-Mike?
Mike.
-You can have my bacon.
-What are they paying you?
-I shouldn't say.
-They're paying me $10 Million.
-Yeah, me too.
-Hold your banner. Hold it.
And now.
[Indistinct shouting]
Higher on that side.
-Let's get a chair over there.
-Here you go, buddy.
[Rapping at door]
-Yes. Come in.
-Mr. Purdy.
Yeah, uh, so...
First of all,
sorry about before.
[Indistinct chatter]
-Alan Lewis.
Which one of you
is Alan Lewis?
Ah, Michael's had
a breakthrough.
Now I want these tested,
and I want the report
on my desk Friday.
-When? Sorry.
-Friday.
-This looks like a whole
new relay system.
Testing this would probably
take me a month.
-Well, then you best
get started, hadn't you?
-It's bad luck to work
on movie night.
-Work on movie night...
-You're all children.
Is that it?
-Sorry. Who are you?
-You think this is funny?!
Is it?!
-Didn't want -- just wondering,
who -- who are you?
-I'm Charles Purdy.
From this moment on,
you all work for me.
And if that work is not done
at a pace that I expect,
you'll be fired.
And I'll keep firing
until this room is full of men
and not little boys playing
with their little penises.
Now, are there any questions?
-Um.
Where's Doug?
-This is what we do
Do, do, do
My body is my body
My time is my time
The way that it usually comes
out of my mind
-Doug! How's it goin', bro?
-Movie night tonight.
Movie night.
-No time to sit and wait,
we do what we do
And what we do can't wait
This is what we do
Do, do, do
[Kills engine]
[Muffled music
from headphones]
-Have you seen this?
-No.
-Have you been out there?
-No.
Dude, Jim killed movie night!
Actually, what am I saying?
He didn't have the guts
to do it himself.
Apparently he got
this 300 pound dude
to go in there, start screaming
at everybody,
said he was going to fire Alan.
Mike.
-We do -- we do need
to get back to work.
-Yeah.
Do you not ever wonder
why these guys are willing
to work 80 hours a week,
never see their families,
never get any credit?
-It's because
they get to work on
the best phone in the world,
Doug.
-That must be it.
[Ringing]
-Hello?
-You're making
a big mistake, sport.
-Yeah, sorry --
-Don't you dare fucking
hang up on me.
-I'll call you back.
-Don't hang up on me.
Don't you fucking --
-How's everybody doing?
-Jim.
I know this isn't exactly
what you want to hear,
but this board feels that
in order to avoid
further disruptions,
it's best we end our
relationship with BlackBerry.
-John, we're just
getting started.
-Jim, I'm serious.
We're willing to take
the hit on users
and let them go crash
somebody else's fucking network.
It's over.
-No.
What's over is your bullshit
limit of 500,000 users.
We quadrupled it.
-Okay, Jim --
-Our engineers
reprogrammed your towers.
As of right now,
Verizon is capable
of carrying two million
blackberries at the same time,
and we've already sold
half of those.
-Bullshit.
-Try me.
-Hello, operator
Can you give me number nine?
Can I see you later?
Will you give me back
my dime
Turn the oscillator
Twist it with
the dollar bill
Mail man bring the paper
Leave it on my window sill
-How did you do it, Mike?
-We are number one
in handset sales,
subscriptions,
customer retention,
attracting new smartphone users,
and brand recognition.
We control 30%
of the North American market.
And with the upcoming release
of the BlackBerry Bold --
[Vibrating]
...we're on track to control
50% of the global market.
Now, our numbers are a bit below
our estimates right now,
but we are expecting a nice bump
when the 8310
comes out in March.
-Now is probably
a good time to talk about
moving some of the assembly
and construction to China.
-No, no.
Take people off of Onyx,
if you need more bodies,
hire more people.
We're not moving
to fucking China.
-All right.
-All right.
Oh, my God.
What?!
Uh, that's a good spot to leave
it for today, guys, thank you.
-Hey, where's Jim?
-Why?
-He's not answering my emails.
-Well, we're pitching the
trackpad to Verizon on Friday,
so he's probably
working on that.
I'm in a meeting!
-And I really believe that
Vasily --
' is that how you say it?
Or something like that?
You know, he was in there.
He says, I've heard guys screw
up my name, but worse than you.
Anyhow, he's a patriot.
He really does --
He's a hockey guy
that really wants --
there's no big money.
That doesn't mean --
He's a hockey guy. He plays...
[Ringing]
-No, don't!
[Sighs]
-Hello?
-Hand the phone to Jim.
-Who's this?
-It's Jack Manishen
in marketing --
it's important.
-Jack Manishen, marketing.
-Yeah, Mike can handle it.
-Maybe you could speak
to Mr. Lazaridis.
-He does not want me going to
Mike with this.
At least tell me
where you're going.
-He wants to know
where we're going.
-Hang up.
[Applause]
-So, three things:
A widescreen iPod
with touch controls,
a revolutionary mobile phone,
and a breakthrough Internet
communications device.
An iPod, a phone,
and an Internet
communicator.
An iPod...
A phone...
Are you getting it?
[Cheering and applause]
These are not
three separate devices.
This is one device.
[Cheering and applause]
And we are calling it...
iPhone.
[Cheering and applause]
Here's four smart phones, right?
Motorola Q, the BlackBerry,
Palm Treo,
Nokia E62 --
the usual suspects.
They all have these keyboards
that are there,
whether you need them or not
to be there.
And they all have
these control buttons
that are fixed in plastic.
-Why would anybody
want a phone without
a keyboard?
-Well, what we're going to do
is get rid of all these buttons
and just make a giant screen.
A giant screen.
And when we start
shipping in June,
we'll be selling iPhone
through our own stores
and through Cingular stores.
And it's my pleasure
to introduce the CEO
of Cingular,
Stan Sigman.
-Are you fucking kidding me?
-What?
-That's Stan Sigman.
That's the CEO of AT&T.
-You know, Steve and I
first met about two years ago
in New York City
when he shared with me
this vision
that he had for this product.
-This fuckin' guy.
-And we've been working on it
for a long time and actually ---
All right, everybody, That's it.
Fun time's over.
Back to work.
I need a prototype of the Bold
in my hand by Friday
with a working trackpad.
Thank you.
-That's crazy.
[Ringing]
Yellow.
-Hi. Is this Douglas?
-Yeah, yeah.
-I'm from the Securities
and Exchange Commission,
and I was wondering if you
could answer some questions
for me.
-Sure. Okay. Check the knock.
-Were you involved in the
hiring of a Mr. Paul Stanos?
-Sorry. You're from where?
-I'm from the SEC.
-It's a serious call?
-Yes.
-Yeah.
You called the wrong person.
I can't help you
with anything like that.
-Is this Douglas Fregin?
-Yes, ma'am.
-Sorry, I have you listed here
as one of the founders
of the company.
-I... Yeah, I guess I am not.
Uh...
-Doug?
-I got to go.
[Ringtone playing]
-I'm sorry.
Unknown number?
-No.
-Mr. Balsillie?
-Yes.
-Welcome to the NHL.
-Thanks for having me.
-Nice to meet you.
Just this way.
-Okay, great.
-Right in here.
-Yeah. Good to see you.
Thank you for taking the time.
-Oh, I've always got time
for you, Gary.
Get me on the phone
with Copps Coliseum.
-It's at the arena
in Hamilton.
-Yeah. Tell 'em
I want to buy it.
-Okay. So I thought you were
buying the Pittsburgh Penguins.
-Yes, I am. Let's go.
-Okay, we got to go.
-One sec.
This is it.
This is good enough.
This is good.
-This is good enough?
-Apple is launching
a marketplace for applications.
It's going to be
third party developers.
Any -- any -- any -- anyone --
-This is bad.
Bad time, bad time, bad time.
-Bad time.
-Third party developers.
-Hey, man.
-Yeah.
-It's laggy as hell.
-Good enough.
Good enough.
-Okay, now.
-Yeah, we got it.
-Doug, come on.
They're launching
an application marketplace.
-Okay.
So the touchpad is working.
I don't know if I would say
that it's working-working.
-[Sighs]
-What?
-Do you have a suit?
-2.4 inches,
480 by 360 HVGA screen,
and to top it all off,
the world's first trackpad,
which we believe will be
the dominant navigational
device for all mobile devices
within the next two years.
The BlackBerry Bold.
-That's it?
-Uh-huh.
-That -- that's what you got
for us?
A trackpad?
-Uh...
-Y-you guys see Apple's thing?
Any reaction to that?
-Plenty. Yeah.
It's an overdesigned,
trying-to-do-too-much toy
that will crash any network
gullible enough to take it on.
It is, by every metric,
the exact opposite of everything
we do at Research in Motion.
Less data, no frills,
reliable network.
Okay, that's BlackBerry.
-Sexy slogan, Mike.
-So, I guess you just want
to kill your whole network?
Because that's what it would do.
-Yeah. The iPhone, they put
a keyboard right on the screen.
-And it's the stupidest thing
I've ever seen
in my entire life.
Ask anyone what they love most
about their BlackBerry
and you will get the same answer
every single time:
The keyboard, the click.
Okay
Th-this --
-Well...
Yeah, yeah.
-This entire market
was born
of our innovation,
our idea to put a keyboard
on a phone.
We did that. We built that
from a pile of garbage in 1996.
-So, there's another slogan
I don't know, Mike.
AT&T's got Apple,
we were kind of hoping
you'd come in here
with an iPhone killer.
-I --
I don't need to kill it
because it's going
to commit suicide
and it's going to take down
the whole fucking
Cingular network with it.
I'm giving you gold,
and I think you're
all misunderstanding it.
Uh...
I created this entire
product class.
I created this
entire fucking market.
I created this entire
product class.
So listen to me --
the trackpad is a mouse pad.
Uh --
Built into the phone.
-Yeah.
And...
Right. Okay.
Yeah. Okay.
Good enough.
Thanks, guys, for coming down.
Tell you what.
Let us -- we'll we'll talk
about this internally.
We'll get back to you, okay?
Tell Jim we missed him.
-Let's go.
-He's back. Back in Waterloo,
working because...
So, he promised me
not to mention...
the other thing.
We're not quite there yet.
But we're working on
something pretty top secret.
He made me promise
not to mention it, um..
Prototype, we're still a few
weeks out, uh,
but, you know,
I can demo it
with our Bold prototype.
So it's still a BlackBerry.
It's our BlackBerry.
So you --
Except for where --
where we have keys here,
um, screen, the whole thing
is a screen, except ours,
when you press it, you'll get
that that satisfying click,
that BlackBerry click,
our trademark click.
So, screen, keyboard, phone.
Screen, keyboard, phone.
Screen, keyboard, phone.
Are you getting it?
-Mike. Mike?
What the fuck was that, dude!
-Where is this fucking limo?
-Capacity max is at 17,000,
but we can enhance it
to 19,000
without too much trouble.
-All right. I want all this
basketball shit gone.
From now on,
this place is a permanent rink.
-[Scoffs]
We can't do that.
-Why?
-We have active contracts
with a dozen clients.
-Cancel 'em.
-Yeah, but there's going to --
-I'll pay the fines.
I want that
to be my personal box.
-That's not a box.
That's not a box.
-No, no, no.
Okay, so it's a screen,
but it needs a raised hinge
or actuator,
as I wrote, between it
and the body
so the entire device clicks
when you press on it.
-[Muttering]
-Wait. What?
-I'm just wondering why
we want to do that.
-That -- that -- that --
is not the question
you ask me here.
I don't --
"Why" does not matter to you?
Okay?
Because I said so.
Because that's what I sold.
Okay?
Who are you, by the way?
-Easy, Mike.
[Ringtone playing]
-Oh, come on, guys, please.
Silent mode!
When we're at the office.
Charles!
-Phones off.
-Sorry. Sorry, Mike.
Sorry, everybody.
-Okay, so you know what I think
all this is,
is we're trying to do the old
BlackBerry click
while embracing
the new iPhone screen.
That's all.
-No, no, no.
We're not embracing
anything to do with Apple!
Guys!
It's really not hard.
Okay? We pay you a lot of money.
This is really not hard.
It's a keyboard on a screen,
on a keyboard.
And I don't care
what you think of it.
-Mike.
Fuck is Doug talking about.
Embracing what Apple is doing?
I don't understand.
-You come back from New York
talking about
a brand new phone, right?
Prototype in a week.
What are we doing here?
-Can I talk to you?
-It's a prototype,
Charles, I can build
the fucking thing myself
in a night if I had to.
-We still got to ship
the goddamn thing.
-I said use the Onyx --
-I did! On curve!
All right, China.
It's the only way
this gets done.
I'm sorry, China.
-Yeah. Fuck it. Do it.
China.
China. Let's do it.
-Wait. No, no.
He doesn't mean that.
-Hey, hey, hey. Don't --
Don't speak for me.
-But, Mike, what are you doing?
-What am I doing? I'm trying to
keep our biggest
fucking customer, what the fuck
are you doing?
-Mike, I'm trying to help you.
-You're not though.
You're not.
You're not helping me.
This doesn't help me.
If you can help me,
we wouldn't be here.
I don't need your fucking
help anymore, okay?
You're fucking useless!
-Okay.
-Figure out China
Figure out China.
And I'll build
the fucking thing myself.
Fuck.
[Telephone rings]
What?
-Is this Mike Lazaridis?
-Who's -- Who's this?
-My name is Dara Frankel.
I'm from the SEC.
Do you have a second?
-Not really. Not right now.
What is this about?
-I'm trying to track down
some information
on some stock options
your company issued.
-Well, that's not -- I wouldn't
know anything about that.
I think you'd want
to talk to Jim.
-Okay.
Would there be a good time
to come in and talk about this?
-No, I don't -- no.
-Okay. I'm here.
I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.
-Jack Manishen says
he needs to see you.
-Okay. Yeah. Where is he?
-Camped outside your office.
-Great.
-Shell, do me a favor.
Reach out to Carl Yankowski's
office and let him know
that Jim Balsillie's got
opening night tickets
to the Hamilton Penguins
for him.
I know how much
he loves hockey.
All right, all right. Relax.
You got me.
-That same woman from the SEC
keeps calling.
Can I give her your number?
-No.
-Okay, so first quarter,
second quarter, third quarter.
Fourth quarter.
And this is us.
[Clicking]
-Whose numbers are these?
-Apple's internal projections.
-They released the numbers
on Friday.
-$500 fully subsidized?
This is the most expensive
phone in the world.
-It has the highest
consumer interest
of any product in history.
We're going to go from
number one phone in the world
to that phone that people had
before they bought an iPhone.
-It's gonna be fine.
Mike'll figure it out.
[Knock on door]
What?
[Knocking harder]
-Hey, um...
Why is the SEC looking at us?
-They called you?
-Yeah. Something --
Something about stock options?
-I'm sure it's nothing. Yeah.
-It -- It's nothing?
-Yeah. What's with this
Apple thing?
-What--What about it?
-Are we worried?
-No.
-Okay. Why?
-Because one of them
uses as much data
as 5,000 BlackBerrys.
Because it has no keyboard.
Because the thing is a joke.
-So why are people telling me
that they're about to kill us?
-Because they're idiots.
-[Sighs]
-Get me a meeting
with Stan Sigman at AT&T.
-What are you doing?
[Beeps]
-Okay, so the soonest
I can get is next month.
His office said he's
leaving for vacation today.
-Tell him I'm coming
to Atlanta right now.
Let's go. Let's go!
Tell them we'll be there
in an hour.
-Hey, it's --
-Gary, how are you?
-Good. We're ready
to go over here.
How soon can
you get to New York?
-Great, uh...Anytime tomorrow.
-How about today?
-That might be
a little tight for me.
-I've got the board here now,
and I don't know
when they're all going
to be together again.
-If you want to wait,
up to you.
It's your deal.
-Yeah. No, that works, Gary.
I'll -- Yeah, I'll be there.
-Looking forward to it.
-Okay. Alright. Bye.
Change of plans.
We're going to JFK.
-We're dialed in.
-Listen to me, you mouthy fuck!
If I say we're going to JFK,
we're going to JFK!
Do you understand?
-So we're--we're not meeting
with Sigman, then?
-I'm doing it all.
-Hey!
Fuck.
[Groans]
-Where's Jim?
-I have no idea.
-C'mon, we got
to get you out of here.
-What? Why?
-SEC is raiding us.
-Wait, what?
-Give me your phone.
-[Sighs]
-Where's your goddamn phone?
[Knock on door]
-Mike Lazaridis?
-Can you handle this?
Who are you?
-We spoke on the phone.
You want to come and answer
some questions?
-Sure. Sure.
After me, is it? Okay.
-Okay.
-Okay, what?
What are they doing?
That's -- That's -- No, no.
They can't touch
any of that stuff.
They --
-Passwords on everything.
-Oh.
What's the password, Mike?
-Am I required
to give that to you?
-No.
Are you hiding something?
-Um...
Should I not have a lawyer
or something with me for this?
-Do you think you need a lawyer?
-Jim.
-Gary, what's going on?
You got me --
got me waiting out here.
-Jim, look, we're not going to
waste your time here, okay?
It's not going to happen
with you and the Penguins.
-What?
-We held a vote with the other
owners and unfortunately,
it went against you, 26 to 0.
-Hold on a second.
Hold on, hold on.
I thought we had a deal.
When did the other owners
even get...?
I'm sorry.
What changed here, man?
-The owners did not find you
to be of good
character and integrity.
-I don't know
what the hell that means.
Gary, what the fuck is this?
-You know, it's funny.
It's one thing
to have a secret plan
to fuck over the NHL
and move a team to Canada.
It's another thing to brag
to your rich friends before you
actually do it.
-[Scoffs]
-Oh, you guys are
so fucking stupid.
You know what? Maybe I'll buy
this whole fucking league.
Huh? How about that?
-Don, can we see that
Mr. Balsillie
get safely back to Canada?
-Oh, fuck all you people!
Fuck you!
Get ready for a hostile takeover
of this entire fucking league,
okay, you fuck?
You think I won't fucking do it?
I'm from Waterloo,
where the vampires hang out!
Go, go, go, go, go!
-We'll never make it.
-I said let's go!
-Delay Sigman.
-I called.
They said he's already left
for vacation?
-Where?
-They just said
he's going to the airport.
-Great, so are we.
[Plane engine whirs]
-And is this your signature?
-Yep.
-And this?
I don't know
what you're looking for.
These are standard
employment contracts.
-I'm just wondering how you
convinced all these engineers
from around the world
to come all the way to Canada.
It doesn't make sense.
-It's because they get to work
on the best phone in the world.
-Mike.
-Hmm?
-Each of these contracts
offers backdated stock options.
You were illegally pricing
your own shares
so you could hire engineers
with money you didn't have.
Do you know what the sentence is
for multi-million dollar
stock fraud?
-Okay, I swear I had no idea
about any of what you just said.
-Do you expect me
to believe that?
You're CEO.
-Co-CEO.
-Tell me why this can't wait
another few weeks.
-I'm telling you, Stan.
-I'm headed for the terminal
right now.
-What?
-Well, hold on.
-I'm at gate 7. Where are you?
-Are you running?
-No, Stan. No, I'm good.
I'm telling you, I'm --
just give me the gate.
-I'm getting
on a plane here, Jim.
-Okay, listen, Stan.
Alright, here's the headline.
Half a million BlackBerrys
for AT&T for $0.
-What's the catch?
-Nope. No catch.
They're yours if you're willing
to release them at a discount
one month before the iPhone.
-[Sighs]
-Stan, come on. You owe me.
You've sold a lot of minutes
because of us.
-Yeah, but you know
what the problem
with selling minutes is?
-What?
-There's only one minute
in a minute.
[Call disconnects]
[Breathing hard]
[Cellphone rings]
-Hey.
-Okay, Mike, listen to me.
I think we've got
a big problem here.
I know what Apple's doing.
-We shouldn't
talk on the phone.
-Why?
-Um, we're in trouble.
-Why?
-We're in trouble with the SEC.
But get back as soon as you can.
I have a way
to get us out of this.
[Badge beeps]
-Hey.
Okay, so, listen.
AT&T knows exactly
what they're doing.
They wanted Apple to build them
a data-guzzling monster,
because that's where they're
going to move the market.
They're not selling minutes
anymore, Mike.
They're selling data.
-He's here.
-Who's that?
-They're waiting
for you next door.
-Who's --
What -- What did you do?
-I made a deal.
The SEC gets you,
your board seat,
and our full cooperation
in their criminal investigation.
And for that,
they'll leave us alone.
And they want $183 million.
-You said next door?
[Indistinct chatter]
[Buzzing sound]
[Buzzing stops]
-Dirty old river,
must you keep rolling
Into the night
People so busy,
make me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don't
Need no friends
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day, I look
at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly
is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine
-Waterloo sunset's fine
Terry meets Julie,
Waterloo station
Every Friday night
But I am so lazy,
don't want to wander
I stay home at night
But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
-I'm thinking of
the incredible breakthrough
which has been made possible by
developments in communications,
particularly the transistor
and above all,
the communications satellite.
These things will
make possible a world
in which we can be in instant
contact with each other,
wherever we may be.
It will be possible in that age,
perhaps only 50 years from now,
for a man to conduct
his business from Tahiti or Bali
just as well
as he could from London.
In fact,
if it proves worthwhile,
almost any executive skill,
any administrative skill,
even any physical skill,
could be made
independent of distance.
When that time comes,
the whole world will have
shrunk to a point.
And the traditional role
of the city
as a meeting place for man
would have ceased to make
any sense.
In fact, men will
no longer commute.
They will communicate.
-Fuck's sake.
-We're not late!
-No, I know,
but I'm going to throw up.
-Okay.
Shit!
-Matt Sundin is the sleepiest
of all out there.
He's proven NHL talent but not
scoring like the Leafs need --
-Your 9:00 is here.
-Where's Brock?
-His office.
-Mr. Balsillie?
You wanted to see this report.
-Talk to Shelly.
-[Muttering]
Integrated circuits...
-Well, I finally understand
that quote,
When you grow up,
your heart dies.
That's from "Breakfast Club."
John Hughes.
-Do you hear that?
[Low hiss]
-Uh, yeah.
You talk about that buzzing?
-Mm.
-It's an office, I'm sure they
got a million little buzzes.
-Mm.
-It's a subtle buzzing.
-There.
-You've identified it.
-Mm.
-What?
Made in China --
the mark of the beast?
[Hissing distorts]
Uh... Um...
Mike?
-I can't concentrate.
-And so what?
Are you going to fix this?
-I'm going to fix it.
-Uh, now's not the time.
The meeting starts in,
like, two minutes.
Now's not the time.
Now's not the time.
Now's not the time.
-Okay?
I need, like, a paper clip.
-That's a guy's thing.
That's a guy's fucking thing.
-It has no off switch.
That means it's always on.
So it's just always buzzing.
-Uh-huh. Yeah.
Um... Well,
Yeah, go fast.
-You can tell him he's
not going -- [chuckles] --
He's not going to get steel.
Alloys, Harry!
I'll call you back.
-They're outside.
-These guys really
are Dutch, huh?
-[Chuckles]
Listen, Rick, I've thought
about this a lot.
And if these guys take the deal,
I want to run the new division.
-Think you can run this place?
-Yes! Yes!
-Me too.
Just so we're clear,
if this thing doesn't go,
we never had this conversation.
-Great. Great. Um...
-Thank you.
-There's one adjustment.
Apparently the Americans
offered them
some fancy tax splitting plan,
so we need to show them
the Canadian version.
-I don't have that.
-No, no.
-Callahan worked
something up last minute.
We're going to bring him in
to explain it.
-Callahan.
Uh...
You know what?
I think that's a bad idea.
-Why is that?
-I tell you what, Rick,
why don't you have
Callahan explain
the tax thing to me
and I'll just -- I'll work it
into my pitch.
I think that's better.
-Kyle was up all night
putting this together
as a favor to me.
He gets to present.
-Rick, I mean...
You're going to have
this guy present to Stork?
I mean, he looks like a..
fucking, a total goof.
-Jim...
I'm not asking.
-Okay, great.
-Okay. Bald, scary looking guy
walking towards us right now.
-God damn it!
-Mike?
-Yeah. Got it.
-Watch the fuck out!
-Oh, shit.
Sit down. Sit down.
-Much better.
-[Sighs]
-Yeah. What can I do for you?
-Yes. Hi.
I'm Mike Lazaridis,
CEO of Research in Motion.
We create various
computer hardware systems
using both custom
design integrated circuits,
as well as off
the shelf components
provided by major hardware
vendors such as Intel,
American Micro Devices
and CYRIX.
Our clients have included
US Robotics,
Rogers Cantel, RAM Mobile.
-Just a second.
[Dialing]
Hey, you're on
Callahan's desk, right?
Okay, great.
This is Jim Balsillie.
Brock wanted me to do
a quick proof of that tax stuff
before the meeting.
Could you bring me a --
Exactly.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Okay, uh, what is this?
-So w-we had a shop teacher...
who told us --
oh, we had a shop teacher
in high school named
Mr. Moshinsky,
who told us the person who puts
a computer inside a phone
will change the world.
Well, we have a plan
to piggyback
on the unused bandwidth
of the UHF spectrum
to create an all
in one mobile device.
[Beep]
-Adam Callahan's assistant
is here to see you?
-Send him in.
Great.
-Sorry, Mr. Balsillie.
No one -- I didn't realize you
needed a copy of
this tax report also --
-I'm in a meeting right now.
Okay.
-So, basically there is
a free
wireless Internet signal
all across North America,
and nobody has figured out
how to use it.
There's free Internet
in this room right now.
-Mm-hmm.
-It's like the force.
Sorry. Have you seen
"Star Wars"?
-No.
-So, okay, picture a pager,
a cell phone and an email
machine, all in one thing.
-We call it, um, Pocket Link.
-Okay, listen, we don't do
anything like that here.
We are a commercial
manufacturing company.
You want to talk
to a VC guy?
And you need a better name.
-You're going to cry?!
Mike!
Oh, it's just disappointment?
-Yeah.
-You did great!
-[Clears throat]
Well, I saw that Rick sent
the limo to pick you guys up.
We must need this merger
worse than I thought.
[Light laughter]
So, I know we have
a lot to cover,
but I thought we should start
with our tax strategy.
Now, I'm sure you heard it
from the Americans,
but let me assure you,
we also know how to
cheat on our taxes
here in Canada.
Okay?
Here's what we can do:
We run payroll out of Ontario,
but we pay all our vendors
from the Netherlands.
We split that fucker
right in half.
The left won't know
what the right is doing.
Plus, we get a nice
little provincial
kickback on manufacturing labor.
We get a massive
federal tax credit
because they don't know whether
they're private or public.
-Beam me aboard!
-Prisoner, and held captive
within the digital world of
the computer itself.
-Riding on any wave
That is the luck you crave
They don't believe it now
They just think it's stupid
So got anything?
Anyone could have done
Who would've cared at all
Not you
Another heart
-Hello?
-Hello!
-Has made the trade
Forget it, forget it
-So, what you're saying is that
you just touch and talk?
-I don't understand
How a heart is a spade
But somehow the vital
connection is made
-You can use your cellular phone
to order me a pizza.
-And that includes
50 minutes of air time.
-We'll page you.
-Well, it's very hip to be
on the Internet right now.
-[Both shouting]
-I still think
Apple has a future.
The way out is not to slash
and burn, it's to innovate.
Riding on anything
Anything's good enough
Who would've thought it of
[Engages parking brake]
-Oh, okay. Here's what I think.
Mike, super simple.
Hit him with the good news,
bad news routine --
good news, bad news routine.
All right? You're going to
say good -- Mike?!
What?
Everything's going to be fine.
We still have
the US Robotics deal.
We're like, what did
the cave say about Aladdin,
"Diamond in the rough"?
Fuck!
-What?
-I forgot the easel.
-No, we have to change the name.
Product needs a new name.
-You're giving that guy
way too much credit, man.
He hasn't seen "Star Wars."
He's bald.
How much you want to bet they
don't even mention the phone.
[Typing, laughter]
-Are you office dad?
-[Laughter]
-Dude. Okay.
Make a make a -- make a thing.
Make a "Scott sucks" --
-I can't.
That's why I'm using
your computer.
-21 boy Canada.
-That's me.
This guy's telling me
about sniffing his --
Sniffing his --
[Door opens]
-Did they buy the phone?
-So, we've got good news
and bad news.
The -- okay,
the bad news is that,
yeah, the presentation,
we were not heard,
and they did not understand
the product,
and so
they did not buy the phone.
-What was the good news?
-What's the good news?
-Emergency movie night,
right now, Steven Spielberg's
"Raiders of the Lost Ark,"
letterbox.
-No way!
-Shotgun. Shotgun. Shotgun.
Shotgun!
-You said their headpiece
only had markings on one side.
Are you absolutely sure?
Balloq's staff is too long.
[All] "We're digging in
the wrong place"!
[Laughter]
[Dramatic music]
-Don't!
-[All] "Bad dates."
-Bad dates.
-Couple of bad dates.
-A couple bad dates!
Couple bad dates!
-That was -- that was there.
Why did they go the other way?
That was like that...
-Mike, you're missing
your favorite movie, man!
-[Sighs]
-Toronto wins it by a count
of 5 to 4.
Doug Gilmour adds three assists
to his five
to finish the game with 30....
...in the extra period.
But obviously the story was --
[Kills engine]
-Are they top or bottom left?
-Go, I got my whole group.
-Send -- Send everything.
Top left.
Let's take.
Let's take a gamble.
We'll go for Scott.
-Does anybody have
a type-c coax?
-They don't even know
I'm not even top left.
-Scott, you're attacking me.
-What?
-You're attacking me.
-Oh, I'm sorry.
-Send the dogs, Ethan,
Send the dogs.
They're rushing.
-Bottom right.
-I'm sending another. Another.
-They got rockets.
I got to run down.
-Anybody have any type c
coax cables?
-Kiss it bye-bye!
-Oh, the plunger is moving!
-No!
-The plunger is moving!
Dude, come on.
[Ringing]
-No! No!
[Bang]
-Ow! Ow!
-Oh!
-I'm sorry, boys!
But it's back!
It's back!
-You had them --
-It's back!
-[Clears throat]
-Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
-Nothing for me.
Thanks.
So I know
how to sell your phone.
I know how to market it, and I
know who we can sell it to.
-Who?
-What do you mean, we?
-Here's the deal.
I will leave my job
at Sutherland Schultz.
If you make me CEO
of Research in Motion.
-Are you serious?
-That was the worst product
pitch I've ever seen in my life.
You guys don't stand
a chance out there.
You need me.
-Sorry. I don't know
who you think you are,
but we are just fine.
We have a $16 million
deal with US Robotics.
-16 million?
-That's right.
-Wow. Okay.
And what did they buy?
-Modems.
Ever heard of them?
-Are they like the force
in "Star Wars"?
-Very funny. You know,
your logo literally is SS.
-And how much have they paid you
on that $16 million?
-Yeah. Nothing.
-Zero?
-Nothing yet.
We haven't delivered the modems.
-Well, we shipped them
product samples months ago,
and their accounting department
won't even return
our phone calls.
-Yeah, but they're gonna --
What's going on?
They're going to pay us.
We have a $16 million deal
with US Robotics.
-Yeah, so, uh, you guys are
getting fucked.
-Why would you -- why do you
think -- why do you say that?
-Well, because I would
do the same thing.
Little operation like yours.
They know they can
withhold payment
till the last possible second
and then crush you.
These guys, they're...
They're pirates.
-Uh-huh...
-We got it. Thank you.
Um...
How do you know anything --
What the fuck do I care?
How much money do you got?
-Yeah, um...
-Okay, guys?
-2.50?
-Here's what I'm going to do.
I will give you
$20,000 cash today.
I'll sell the phone, I'll work
out this problem with USR.
But I want 50% of the company,
and I've got to be CEO.
-That's...
-Are you joking?
No. Obviously. Obviously.
No. No!
-Should I just --
-Mike?
-Okay. Okay.
-Who is in charge here?
-Oh, I mean, technically --
-Mike is in charge,
and he says no.
-I am in charge.
And I say...
-Sorry.
-You don't need to do
what this guy says.
We just met him.
He's not your dad!
-Okay...
-Thanks. Thank you.
-Very sassy man.
Wouldn't you say?
He had a --
He had a sass.
-"Modems, ever heard of those,"
or whatever, like --
-Oh, no. I sassed him too,
but he sassed me back.
Like, what's he trying to say?
We don't have our modem deal?
[Laughs]
[Video game sound effects,
line ringing]
-US Robotics.
How may I direct your call?
-Yeah, it's Mike Lazaridis
from Research in Motion.
We're actually building
some circuit boards
for you guys.
-One moment please.
[Beeping]
-Mike! Is that you?
-Yes, hi.
I was just wondering if --
if it would all --
be at all possible for us to
invoice you
for the first half or third
of our -- your order
from us, if -- if --
can -- can we invoice you
for some some of our --
your order.
-[Laughing] Oh, what?
What?
-If that's okay?
-Did you not get my fax?
-We don't have a fax machine.
-Mike, those modems
you sent us back in March,
they were defective.
-I'm sorry. What?
-Yeah, they didn't work.
We had to cancel
the whole order.
But this was months ago, buddy.
I really thought you guys
had a fax machine.
Hey, I tell you what, why don't
you let me make it up to you?
I'll have USR send you one
free of charge on me. Okay?
-Um... Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
-Great. Okay, well,
good luck, Mike.
-Yeah.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
-What?
Here's what you got to do:
You got to call him back,
you got to
"Glengarry Glen Ross" this guy.
You got to grind him.
-Yeah...
I don't think I can grind him.
-This is exactly what that
Rolex guy said
was going to happen, right?
He predicted it!
What did he say?
He said US Robotics are pirates.
He was fucking dead on.
-Yeah.
[Interference on line]
All right.
-Hey, Steve? Steve?
-Yeah?
-I need the phone line.
-Some guy is trying to say
Noonian Soong is a Q.
-Thank -- yep, thanks.
-All right.
-What are you doing?
-I think we should
take this deal.
-No!
No --
So...
You don't get into business
with people like this.
That guy is sketchy.
-I think he's...
I don't think he's sketchy.
-His business card
is literally sketched out.
The guy's a shark.
-Okay. Do you know...
Do you know who's
afraid of sharks?
Pirates.
Um, so, uh...
We've been talking here,
and we --
We would like to make
a counteroffer.
-You came crawling back
like bugs, like grubs.
-Yeah. So, we would like
to offer you...
10% for...
$500,000.
-Are you out
of your fucking mind?!
I look at 100,000 deals a day!
I pick one!
Is that the quote?
No. I look at 100 deals a day!
I pick one! "Wall Street."
-Okay, uh, w--
uh...
25% for $250,000.
-50% for 50 bucks!
-33% for $125,000,
and you can
run the company with me.
-Mike? No! No!
Yes. Deal. Deal.
-Okay.
-Easy. Dude.
It's going to be
totally fine.
You're going to negotiate
this guy to death.
[Hockey broadcast on television]
-Score!
[Telephone rings]
-Yeah?
-Hi, Jim.
It's Mike Lazaridis
from Research in Motion.
We met at the office
the other day.
So, we'd like
to offer you...
33% of our company for $125,000,
and you and I would be co-CEOs.
-...period.
Couple of them are suspect.
That's their eighth shot of
this hockey game in 6:44.
-Sure.
-That's an improvement.
-Deal.
-Awesome!
Awesome! Dude!
Mike! Scott! Scott?
He did it!
-What do you mean?
-Have you not heard anything
that's been going on
in this room?
-You can have,
like, two minutes
-Maybe you should tell them
about the modems.
-Oh, where do you want to
put him?
-What the fuck is this?
-That's a -- yeah,
everyone builds their own desk.
That's -- that's a tradition.
-Yeah, I'm not doing that.
-US Robotics pulled
out of the deal.
-Told you.
What's our exposure?
-Exposure?
-How much money
did you spend on the modems?
-Oh, $1.6 million.
-One point what?!
-What?!
-Spent $1.6 million
on materials and labor.
-Where did you get $1.6 million?
-I got a loan
from the Bank of Montreal.
-Mike, come on.
-Get me US Robotics!
-S-- Sorry,
who are you talking to?
-Yeah.
[Modem warbling]
-What the fuck is that?
-Oh, it's called a carrier wave.
The calling modem is a --
-Hey! Get off
the fucking Internet!
-Yeah.
-Mike?
-I think it's Casey.
-Uh-huh.
-It's going to be fine, no,
it's going to be fine.
[Ringing]
You don't get to talk
to our team like that.
You just get to talk -
-Mike!
-Hi. Actually, no.
This is Jim Balsillie.
I'm the CEO here now.
-Co-CEO.
-Okay, Jim,
what can I do for you?
-I want to talk
about these modems.
-Well, there's nothing
to talk about, sadly --
w-we can't accept
the defective product.
-Let's cut the bullshit here.
$2.5 million, all in,
for the entire order.
-Yeah. No, can't do it, Jim.
-Then I'll decimate it for you.
$1.6 million.
And if you don't take that,
I'll turn around and sell them
to Rockwell for even less.
-That's negotiation.
-Okay, how about this?
We'll take the modems
if you throw in the patent
on Mike's phone.
-What phone?
-I thought we weren't
bullshitting each other, Jim.
We've been building our own
for a year, we want M--
-How long to build a prototype
of the phone?
-The Pocket Link?
Yeah -- a year.
-No, no, no.
A prototype, Mike.
A shell
I can wave around in a meeting.
It could be
a complete piece of shit.
-No, it --
we're not doing that.
-No, we're...
Mike's not doing that.
-L-listen to me: US Robotics is
building their own phone.
We are now in a race
to get this thing to market,
and we are a year behind.
So I don't care
what you need to do.
Get these fucking nerds
to drop everything
and build this fucking phone!
What?!
-Sorry, guys, um...
My girlfriend tried to cash
my check this morning
and it bounced, and she said
I'm not supposed
to come in here -- allowed --
I shouldn't come
in here anymore.
And she agreed, I won't be
coming in here any longer
until I'm getting paid.
-Whoa!
-[Sighs]
I can fix this.
-Okay, Research in Motion.
It looks like your account has
exceeded its overdraft balance.
-Didn't they just deposit
a check for $125,000 from me?
-Yes.
-Okay. All right.
Um...
I have a mortgage with you guys.
Can we pull that up, please?
-Spell your last name, please.
-B-A-L-S-I-L-L-I-E.
-"Ball-SILLY"?
-"BAHLS-lee"
-Anybody gonna miss this
red chair?
-No.
-You're good.
-Different guys,
different piece.
[Door opens]
-All right, everybody,
listen up.
From now on, checks will be
coming every two weeks.
You will come get them
from Shelly.
This is Shelly.
-Hi.
-All right.
That's you, Shell.
Mike!
-Me too?
-Yeah, sure.
-Sorry. Who --
So, who is Shelly?
[Intercom beeps]
-Shelly?
-Oh, dude,
that thing's haunting you.
-No, I'm motivating you.
And don't call me that thing.
I'm your boss.
-No. No, you're not.
-Yeah?
-Get me John Woodman
at Bell Atlantic.
-You got it.
-Wait, um, what are you doing?
-We are selling the phone.
Mike, I need a prototype.
-I told you, I don't --
-Mike?
[Beep]
-Connecting you.
-Guys, -we are over $1 million
in debt with no assets,
no contracts and no products.
-John Woodman's office.
-Hi, this is Jim Balsillie,
CEO of Research in Motion.
-Co-CEO.
-One moment, please.
-[Mouthing words]
Okay?
-Yeah, I --
-No! He said there's no phone!
-I'm not asking you!
Mike.
-Okay.
-"Okay" --
wh-what do you mean, okay?
No, no, wait. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Wait, wait, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
-John Whitman.
-Mr. Woodman, I am about
to make you insanely rich.
[Click]
-Mike does not agree with this?
-He just fucking did!
-That was duress! Okay?!
You're manipulating him!
It's obvious!
What do you want me to do?
-Uh...
-What?
[Low hiss]
-So there's a reason
why your intercom
is emitting white noise.
It's because it was
manufactured in China
by engineers who didn't care.
And now every office
in the world
has to suffer an annoying hiss,
a blinking red light,
15 different power cords
that are utterly incompatible
with one another.
So we're not doing that.
We are not just adding
to the hiss.
I will build a prototype,
but I'll do it perfectly
or I don't do it.
-Mike, are you familiar
with the saying
"perfect is the enemy of good"?
-Well, good enough
is the enemy of humanity.
-[Sighs]
Shelley, get John Woodman
back on, please.
-So I reach out,
hang up the phone.
He looks up at me like,
"Are you ready to die?"
-[Laughing]
-No, no, no, no.
And I'm prepared to die on it.
Right?
Mike steps in between us,
brings the glasses down
and goes,
"Bitch, I tell you, when we set
the goddamn meeting."
And he backs off.
-Oh!
-All right!
Woodman wants to see it.
We're going to
Bell Atlantic tomorrow.
-Wait, what?
-New York City tomorrow.
-But he said --
-You have till 8:00 a.m.
-T-to do what?
-So, you didn't call him
a bitch, did you?
-Okay. Okay.
Okay, new plan, everybody.
We are all going to chip in
and build this thing tonight.
Okay?
-All right, give me
a Fillmore toggle switch.
Give me 33PF, uh...
-Yeah.
-I think it's like
something kind of
like a hybrid of one.
So I like the...
-I thought you were playing
"Civ."
-We're back.
-I've got something for you.
-That's why to me,
like, remote controls...
-Buttons be small enough that...
-Got some spurs,
neural connections lost.
-You taking it off?
-Yeah.
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
-Yeah.
-So adding the lithium ion
does what...
-Still hot. Still hot.
[Snoring, door opens]
[Horn honking]
-[Groans]
I had a dream we were rich.
[Clattering]
[Sustained honking]
And sometimes my dreams occur
exactly as I dreamt them.
-Let's go!
-What's that from?
-"Dune."
-A-ha!
-You'll get dressed
at the airport.
-Yeah. Thank you.
-Should Doug, come with us or--
-No.
-Because he has a lot
to do with this.
-He's a goof.
Get in the car.
-Yeah, I think
he really wants to come.
-Let me tell you the best
advice I ever got at Harvard.
You want to be great,
you need to sacrifice.
The more painful the sacrifice,
the greater you'll be.
-He -- he's my best friend.
-Okay, great. I saw him put
a toilet plunger on a computer.
[Sighs]
-Attention passengers
on AC42 to New York,
your flight
is now boarding.
-The voice cried softly
Outside the window
[Music continues from radio,
traffic noise]
[Munching loudly]
-Aww, come on.
So, if you hear me
crinkling a piece of paper,
that means stop talking.
-Like, in general or...
-No, in -- [sighs]
In the pitch.
-Oh, yeah. Gotcha.
-Hey, we got to move here, man!
My wife's in labor!
Let's go!
-May -- may I ask why your
business card
had the phone number
crossed out?
-I have no idea
what you're talking about.
-Hey, let's make a deal, okay?
You and I never lie
to each other.
-Sure.
I didn't quit my job.
I was fired.
And I just mortgaged
my house to pay our staff.
So, if this doesn't work out,
I'm fucked.
-Why did they fire you?
-Because they're idiots.
[Elevator dings]
-Hi! Research in Motion?
-How are you?
-Fantastic.
Can I get you anything?
Coffee? Water?
-We're good. We're good.
-Okay.
They'll be with you shortly.
-Okay. Thank you. Great.
-All right.
-Jim?
-No, no, no, no.
Never take the drinks.
Thirst is a display of weakness.
-No, I may have
forgotten the phone.
-Please tell me you're joking.
-No, I'm completely serious.
-Fuck!
-All right,
here's what we're going to do.
I need you to draw out
a little sketch.
-Okay.
-Okay? Something that shows
the keyboard
just like you did in my office.
-Okay. Yeah. Okay.
-Excuse me, miss.
Can I trouble you
for a pen and paper, please?
-They're ready for you.
-Great.
-Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Oh, wait, wait. Here he is.
-Don't worry, okay.
-Hey.
-Hi.
-Hi.
-How are you?
-Good.
Good. We, uh --
are we waiting for anyone?
-I'm alone.
-Okay.
-Good. All right, guys.
Here's how I see it.
All right,
now, I know your marketing team
tells you that you sell
togetherness,
family or staying connected
or whatever,
but let's be honest:
you sell minutes, period.
I mean, your market is minutes,
so your biggest competitor isn't
other cell phone companies,
it's home phones
and office phones.
Those are free minutes.
Those are wasted minutes.
So how do we get
those minutes back?
We reinvent the cell phone.
We put a computer in it.
We put the Internet in it.
We make your cell phone
so fucking useful
that you never have to come
to the office again.
Does email, text messaging,
however you want to communicate;
total individualism
all in one device --
that fits in your fist.
So, you can tell
your marketing team
you're not selling
togetherness anymore.
You're selling self-reliance.
-Uh...
You are not a tech guy,
are you?
-I'm not a --
-The whole world...
The whole fucking world
is trying to do emails
on a cell phone.
We had an entire division
working on it for,
I don't know,
eight months or so.
You know how many phones they
got to work at the same time?
I mean, it's a network
that's built for pagers.
That's all it can do.
You're in la la land on --
[laughs] on this one, you know,
you got -- I think, you know,
some nerds took you for a ride.
-Okay.
Mike?
-What happened?
-It won't work.
-What do you mean it won't work?
-Mike? They tried it already.
-How did you try this already?
-Guys, I think
the meeting's over.
-Did you just put your devices.
directly on the network
as though they were clients?
-That's right.
-Yeah, right.
So what did that get you?
Like, ten phones working
at the same time?
-Uh, yeah.
-Yeah. Okay, here,
just hold this a second.
Okay, so here's your issue.
When -- when you use a phone
as a client, what's it doing?
It's just sitting on your
network constantly asking
the same question:
Did I get an email?
Did I get an email?
Did I get an email?
So it is forever
pulling on your servers
whether you got an email or not.
We have a fix.
Okay?
So we are going to build
a giant computer
that will act as a sort of
massive client
that is hardwired directly
to the Internet
with our phone as server.
Okay, so when a user
gets an email,
Waterloo pulls it in,
packages it,
and then...
sends it.
We engage with your network
maybe a split second, like...
like, less time than that.
-So how -- how much --
I'm sorry, how many --
-A month's worth of traffic
would be less bandwidth
than a local phone call.
So you could have half a million
devices working simultaneously.
-Can we see it?
-Yeah. So it's a prototype.
So it's a long way off from,
um...
Oh, it's just a long,
long way off --
the prototype.
-Well, it's definitely
the world's largest pager.
-No, it's actually the world's
smallest email terminal.
Sorry.
-I see.
This is a...
Oh, this -- this --
Yeah. Oh.
-So, try with your thumbs.
Try typing with your thumbs.
-Oh, yeah.
What do you call it?
-It's called a BlackBerry,
it sends and receives
email messages.
It is also a cell phone.
[Audience cheering]
-In may ways they'll miss
the good old days
Someday, someday
Yeah, it hurts to say
but I want you to stay
Sometimes, sometimes
When we was young,
oh, man, did we have fun
Always, always
Promises, they break before
they're made
Sometimes, sometimes
-Morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-I will do my best
You say you want to stand
by my side
[Stops engine]
-Good morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-Good morning, Mr. Balsillie.
-Mike's here before me?
-He didn't leave last night.
You are mentioned on page nine.
Carl Yankowski from Palm Pilot
keeps calling.
Yeah, well, tell him if he wants
to talk to me,
he can come to Waterloo.
-That's what I said.
Ted Rogers wants to have lunch
in the city. He booked Canoe.
-No, no, I'm not --
I'm not going to fucking Toronto
unless there's a game.
Oh, and call Gary Bettman's
office about those Leaf tickets.
Fucker tried to stick me
in the third row.
-"Fucker, third row."
Got it.
-All right, try 114 and 114.
-Okay. Go for 114.
-Okay. Sending.
[Beeping, cheering]
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Boys!
Done! Done! Yes! Yes! Come on.
-Hey. Hey, Jim.
Yeah, we, uh,
we built a messenger,
fully encrypted
two-way messaging
that is absolutely
inaccessible by anyone,
including us.
It is -- it is --
untrackable, untraceable,
unhackable.
-It's texting.
-Uh -- so -- so, no.
Do you know how much it costs
to send a text message?
-Yeah, 10 cents, and the network
gets every penny.
We're never going
to see that money.
-Right, but these texts
are sent via data.
So, behind the network's back.
Which means...?
-Unlimited free texting,
only on BlackBerry.
Fuck yes!
-Hey!
-Fuck yes!
-I sent a message
that Alexander Graham Bell
said to his assistant,
"Watson, come here."
That's what I --
-Alright, let's just --
Let's just...
-Yeah, yeah.
-Whoa
Come on, yeah
-[Laughing]
What the hell
are you guys doing?!
-As I said,
the story goes
[Cuts music]
-Sorry. Who are you?
-You said if I wanted to talk,
I had to come to Waterloo.
So, here I am.
-Gentlemen...
Meet Carl Yankowski
of Palm Pilot.
-Oh, really.
-[Laughs]
-Doug.
-How are you doing?
-So, I just said three words:
two liter bottle.
And you know what they said?
They said -- [Laughing]
"Carl, nobody drinks
two liters of Mountain Dew."
I mean, they didn't see
what I saw.
Large pizza, big soda,
complete dinner.
We sold a billion liters
in a month!
You playing with yourself
under there, Mikey?
All right, let's clear
the air here.
I had nothing to do with
US Robotics
trying to bankrupt you
back in '96.
Defective modems,
working modems.
Were they defective?
No, it was 100 years ago.
Who's to say?
-Me.
-Exactly.
Here's what we do.
Combine BlackBerry
and Palm Pilot,
one product.
It's the two liter bottle
of smartphones.
-Would I still have complete
control over every aspect
of engineering and design?
-No.
Okay, well, then that's gonna--
we won't be able to move
ahead with this, I'm sorry.
Sorry.
-You guys love saying sorry,
don't you?
Okay, let's see
what you closed at.
$4.50. Oh, God.
Is that Canadian?
US Robotics...
Huh, $83.
Now, that gives us a market cap
about $45 billion.
So what would happen
if I just...
I don't know,
bought up all your shares.
And what's the word
for that again, sport
Hostile takeover.
-Hostile take--
What the fuck?
What is happening?
-We would just say --
we could just say no.
We ow--
We own the company.
-You know, Carl,
you've got a deal.
-Yeah?
-Yeah. Just give us a couple of
months to get our people
taken care of
and then we'll, uh,
we'll agree to a private sale.
-Wait, just --
-Mike, it's okay.
It's okay.
It's better to get rich now
than to fight this guy in court
for the next five years.
-[Laughs] That's right.
You know, I like you.
-You like hockey?
-God, no.
It's moronic.
You?
-Hate it.
-I have come here to chew
bubble gum and kick ass.
And I'm all out of
bubble gum.
-Oh, they based Duke Nukem
on this guy.
[Shotgun blasts]
Like, that is Duke Nukem
for real.
-Okay.
Party's over.
-Has a shotgun.
White male, 30.
-What?
-Listen up.
Turn that thing off, please.
-Wait --
-Can you -- can you --
-Turn it off.
-Al, can you slide it?
-Yeah.
-You guys havin' fun
'Cause we're about to lose
our fucking company.
-What the hell happened
at this lunch?
-Turn that fucking thing off!
Okay?
Yeah, Doug?
-So, my question
is actually for Mike.
How are we supposed to sell
another 500,000 phones
when we are already maxed
on every network we are on?
-You guys will figure it out.
-H-how?
If we put more phones
on these networks,
they're going to crash, period.
We are not allowed
to sell more phones. Mike?
-No, you don't worry
about what's allowed.
I say what's allowed.
-I don't even understand
what the problem is here.
Who cares if this guy
wants to buy our company?
Isn't that good?
-I fucking care!
That's who cares? I care!
I'm trying to keep this company
together, you fuck!
-I'm sorry, do you even know
what a network limit load is?
-Doug...
-Talk to me outside
for a second.
-What?
-What's a network limit load?
-This is impossible.
-What are we supposed to
fucking do, Mike?
Either we jack our stock
to the moon
or Yankowski fucks us!
-Well, Doug is right.
Unless the carriers
rebuild their entire networks,
there's nothing we can do,
the phones use too much data.
-Well, then,
fucking shrink it.
-Yeah, okay. Um...
We -- we looked into that.
-Uh-huh?!
-These guys can't do it.
-What do you mean
they can't do it?
You said they were
the best engineers in the world.
-I said they're
the best engineers in Canada.
-Well, okay. All right.
Who could do it.
-Maybe top guys from Motorola
or Microsoft or Google.
-Okay.
-Wait, what? What? What?
-What are you doing?
-Who else? Where else?
-John Carmack.
Get John Carmack from ID.
Did you guys hear me?
The guy who made "Doom."
-What's "Doom"?
-Have you played "Wolfenstein"?
Please just don't sell
any more phones.
-Can you hear me?
-Yes! Yes!
-Oh, shit.
Hey.
[Music from radio]
[Excited chatter]
-All right. Listen up,
you deadeye dumb fucks.
Sorry to cut your
little vacation short here,
but we got some product to move.
-Product? Can we move?
-I'm sorry. What's that?
Say it again.
-Well, I thought the engineers
said that we maxed
out the networks.
-Yeah, they did, yeah, and
that's their fucking problem.
Okay? Your problem is you need
to sell
a million blackberries
before Q3.
[Laughter]
-Uh. That's --
-"Uh. Uh."
"Uh."
[Chuckles, mocking]
I'm not fucking joking.
I want them gone.
[Chirps]
-[Sighs] Actually talking about
banning these.
-Banning?
-Nobody pays attention
to meetings anymore,
they're crouched over.
-Tell 'em to stop.
-[Laughs] Okay.
We call them Crackberrys.
-Come work for me.
-[Scoffs]
I can't.
-Why?
-Because I'm
under contract here.
-How much to break it.
-Excuse me.
-How much money do you want
to break your contract
with Google?
-I --
[Clears throat]
-I'll give you $1 million
if you sign right now.
-I am not moving to Canada.
We are not having
this conversation.
-$2 million.
-Stop.
-$3 million.
-I need you to leave.
-$10 million.
-Well, you don't
have $10 million.
-This is $1 million option deal.
I will backdate that to when
RIM was trading at $1.
Merrill just gave us
a target of $13.
-Is this legal?
[EDM playing]
-Carl!
-Palm-Berry!
-Yeah. -Hey, listen, I can
barely hear you, buddy.
-I said Palm-Berry,
isn't that great?
-Listen, I'm getting
some static on the line.
Can I, uh -- can I --
can I call you back?
-I can barely hear you.
-What -- Carl?
Okay. I'll call you later.
[Chirps]
-[Indistinct]
-Mike? Mike Lazaridis
-Uh, okay. If Jim fired you,
I can't undo it.
I'm sorry. I've tried.
-No, no. I just got hired.
It's Paul.
-How you doing? Welcome.
Where are you coming from?
-Google.
-Nice. What'd you do?
-I was the, uh, head of
a physical engineering.
-You are not a salesmen anymore.
You're male models.
I want you at every
country club, yacht club,
tennis club,
wherever the elite go, you go.
I want them to see you using it.
[Chiming]
Be big. Be loud.
Have them thinking,
"Who is this annoying prick,
and how can I be more like him?"
-[Laughing]
-What is that?
-And when they ask you,
don't say,
"It's a phone
that does email."
It's not a cell phone.
It's a status symbol.
-Anybody else?
Anybody else? Alright.
-Hi, I'm calling on behalf
of BlackBerry.
I heard that you're interested
in buying some of the Quarks
for your corporation.
-It's 7:55. We're back
with Fox 5 Consumer News.
A global BlackBerry crisis
this morning.
The company says
it's experiencing massive
service interruptions.
The company's helpline says
that users can expect delays
in sending
and receiving messages.
-Yes, yes, we are aware
of the problem
and we are -- we are
sorting it out right now.
-Down over there, Dougie.
-We've been down for this long
before.
Are we totally fucked?
-Hey! Quiet!
-L-let's just keep it down
out here, guys, for a second.
-How many are down?
-Maybe 10,000.
-Oh, Jesus. Okay.
Okay.
[Ringing]
Okay. Okay.
Hello?
-You have a collect call from--
-What the fuck is happening?!
-Will you accept the charges?
Are you still there?
-Yes, I accept.
-Thank you.
-Mike?!
-Hi.
-There are three reasons why
people buy our phones,
do you know what they are?
-For email.
-They fucking work.
-Yeah. Okay. It's not us, Jim.
It's the carrier.
Verizon is doing
something weird.
-Well, I'm about to do
something weird
if you don't fix this now!
The deal was
I get the engineers,
you shrink the data.
-Are you -- are you --
Are you selling more phones?
-What the hell do you think
I've been doing over here, Mike!
We're in the middle
of a hostile fucking takeover.
Do I need to have somebody
babysit you dorks?!
-Okay. Okay. So that's --
Okay, uh, yeah.
The entire system is crashing.
He's selling more phones.
-Hey, Goddamn it!
-Yeah. Yeah.
So, okay.
You know, maybe just
hold off selling more ph--
-I'm not fu--
God!
[Banging]
-Okay. Sorry.
Is this technically legal?
-Eugene!
-I'm actually in a personal
meeting, Charles.
-And I personally don't give
a flying fuck.
Engineering can't do a goddamn
thing until you send that fax.
Now, take a meeting when the
union isn't ripping my guts out.
Do you hear me?
Get it done.
Son of a bitch.
-You said you were located
in Waterloo.
-What is that guy's name?
-Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Research in Motion.
I know this is
a bit disorganized.
I promise we will get
everybody settled.
So in the meantime, we're having
a bit of a network issue,
So put up your hand
if you understand
MOBITEX architecture.
Two people.
Okay. That's fine.
You two, you're with Mike.
The rest of you,
I don't know what you do,
but follow me,
we're taking a tour.
Let's go.
It's going to be a little bit
like Sam Rockwell in
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
-Can I talk to you
for a second?
What is Charles Purdy
doing here?
-I'll get the DVD.
-What are you talking about?
-The man standing
in the hallway
directly over my left shoulder.
-Oh, Jesus.
-Listen to me.
That guy will fuck you up.
Do not let that man
anywhere near
your engineering department.
Trust me.
-Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right.
-I'm serious.
He will fuck your shit up.
-Can I help you?
-You're Mike, aren't you?
-Yes, I'm Mike.
What are you doing here?
-Charles Purdy.
I'm your new COO.
-Oh.
Jim hired you to be the --
Chief...
-I'm here to get this ship
under control.
-We are under control.
-Oh, really? Who's?
Hmm?
-Okay, so then let's try
something different.
Instead of shrinking the data,
maybe we spread it out.
Thank you.
-Well, why not take multiple
towers in the same zone
and split the packet
between them?
We can put it back
together at the server.
-We tried that.
Here's the problem.
The towers don't recognize
one another.
Each one has no idea which piece
of the signal they're receiving.
And the whole process
just keeps.
-Maybe we reprogram
the towers.
-They're not our towers.
We don't control them.
-That's okay.
At Naughty Dog, we had to
hack the PlayStation to get
"Crash Bandicoot" running.
-Okay, so if each exchange
is triangulated,
we could divide
the signal three ways.
-We could actually do way,
way more.
Every BlackBerry is a server.
-We could divide the signal
between every user
in the same grid --
-Divide it by thousands.
It'll be like Napster --
distributed network
of your own users.
-It's got to be in
the terms of service,
Hackers would be on it so fast.
-But they encrypt everything
server side, right?
Mike? I mean,
everything is already encrypted.
-Mike?
Mike.
-You can have my bacon.
-What are they paying you?
-I shouldn't say.
-They're paying me $10 Million.
-Yeah, me too.
-Hold your banner. Hold it.
And now.
[Indistinct shouting]
Higher on that side.
-Let's get a chair over there.
-Here you go, buddy.
[Rapping at door]
-Yes. Come in.
-Mr. Purdy.
Yeah, uh, so...
First of all,
sorry about before.
[Indistinct chatter]
-Alan Lewis.
Which one of you
is Alan Lewis?
Ah, Michael's had
a breakthrough.
Now I want these tested,
and I want the report
on my desk Friday.
-When? Sorry.
-Friday.
-This looks like a whole
new relay system.
Testing this would probably
take me a month.
-Well, then you best
get started, hadn't you?
-It's bad luck to work
on movie night.
-Work on movie night...
-You're all children.
Is that it?
-Sorry. Who are you?
-You think this is funny?!
Is it?!
-Didn't want -- just wondering,
who -- who are you?
-I'm Charles Purdy.
From this moment on,
you all work for me.
And if that work is not done
at a pace that I expect,
you'll be fired.
And I'll keep firing
until this room is full of men
and not little boys playing
with their little penises.
Now, are there any questions?
-Um.
Where's Doug?
-This is what we do
Do, do, do
My body is my body
My time is my time
The way that it usually comes
out of my mind
-Doug! How's it goin', bro?
-Movie night tonight.
Movie night.
-No time to sit and wait,
we do what we do
And what we do can't wait
This is what we do
Do, do, do
[Kills engine]
[Muffled music
from headphones]
-Have you seen this?
-No.
-Have you been out there?
-No.
Dude, Jim killed movie night!
Actually, what am I saying?
He didn't have the guts
to do it himself.
Apparently he got
this 300 pound dude
to go in there, start screaming
at everybody,
said he was going to fire Alan.
Mike.
-We do -- we do need
to get back to work.
-Yeah.
Do you not ever wonder
why these guys are willing
to work 80 hours a week,
never see their families,
never get any credit?
-It's because
they get to work on
the best phone in the world,
Doug.
-That must be it.
[Ringing]
-Hello?
-You're making
a big mistake, sport.
-Yeah, sorry --
-Don't you dare fucking
hang up on me.
-I'll call you back.
-Don't hang up on me.
Don't you fucking --
-How's everybody doing?
-Jim.
I know this isn't exactly
what you want to hear,
but this board feels that
in order to avoid
further disruptions,
it's best we end our
relationship with BlackBerry.
-John, we're just
getting started.
-Jim, I'm serious.
We're willing to take
the hit on users
and let them go crash
somebody else's fucking network.
It's over.
-No.
What's over is your bullshit
limit of 500,000 users.
We quadrupled it.
-Okay, Jim --
-Our engineers
reprogrammed your towers.
As of right now,
Verizon is capable
of carrying two million
blackberries at the same time,
and we've already sold
half of those.
-Bullshit.
-Try me.
-Hello, operator
Can you give me number nine?
Can I see you later?
Will you give me back
my dime
Turn the oscillator
Twist it with
the dollar bill
Mail man bring the paper
Leave it on my window sill
-How did you do it, Mike?
-We are number one
in handset sales,
subscriptions,
customer retention,
attracting new smartphone users,
and brand recognition.
We control 30%
of the North American market.
And with the upcoming release
of the BlackBerry Bold --
[Vibrating]
...we're on track to control
50% of the global market.
Now, our numbers are a bit below
our estimates right now,
but we are expecting a nice bump
when the 8310
comes out in March.
-Now is probably
a good time to talk about
moving some of the assembly
and construction to China.
-No, no.
Take people off of Onyx,
if you need more bodies,
hire more people.
We're not moving
to fucking China.
-All right.
-All right.
Oh, my God.
What?!
Uh, that's a good spot to leave
it for today, guys, thank you.
-Hey, where's Jim?
-Why?
-He's not answering my emails.
-Well, we're pitching the
trackpad to Verizon on Friday,
so he's probably
working on that.
I'm in a meeting!
-And I really believe that
Vasily --
' is that how you say it?
Or something like that?
You know, he was in there.
He says, I've heard guys screw
up my name, but worse than you.
Anyhow, he's a patriot.
He really does --
He's a hockey guy
that really wants --
there's no big money.
That doesn't mean --
He's a hockey guy. He plays...
[Ringing]
-No, don't!
[Sighs]
-Hello?
-Hand the phone to Jim.
-Who's this?
-It's Jack Manishen
in marketing --
it's important.
-Jack Manishen, marketing.
-Yeah, Mike can handle it.
-Maybe you could speak
to Mr. Lazaridis.
-He does not want me going to
Mike with this.
At least tell me
where you're going.
-He wants to know
where we're going.
-Hang up.
[Applause]
-So, three things:
A widescreen iPod
with touch controls,
a revolutionary mobile phone,
and a breakthrough Internet
communications device.
An iPod, a phone,
and an Internet
communicator.
An iPod...
A phone...
Are you getting it?
[Cheering and applause]
These are not
three separate devices.
This is one device.
[Cheering and applause]
And we are calling it...
iPhone.
[Cheering and applause]
Here's four smart phones, right?
Motorola Q, the BlackBerry,
Palm Treo,
Nokia E62 --
the usual suspects.
They all have these keyboards
that are there,
whether you need them or not
to be there.
And they all have
these control buttons
that are fixed in plastic.
-Why would anybody
want a phone without
a keyboard?
-Well, what we're going to do
is get rid of all these buttons
and just make a giant screen.
A giant screen.
And when we start
shipping in June,
we'll be selling iPhone
through our own stores
and through Cingular stores.
And it's my pleasure
to introduce the CEO
of Cingular,
Stan Sigman.
-Are you fucking kidding me?
-What?
-That's Stan Sigman.
That's the CEO of AT&T.
-You know, Steve and I
first met about two years ago
in New York City
when he shared with me
this vision
that he had for this product.
-This fuckin' guy.
-And we've been working on it
for a long time and actually ---
All right, everybody, That's it.
Fun time's over.
Back to work.
I need a prototype of the Bold
in my hand by Friday
with a working trackpad.
Thank you.
-That's crazy.
[Ringing]
Yellow.
-Hi. Is this Douglas?
-Yeah, yeah.
-I'm from the Securities
and Exchange Commission,
and I was wondering if you
could answer some questions
for me.
-Sure. Okay. Check the knock.
-Were you involved in the
hiring of a Mr. Paul Stanos?
-Sorry. You're from where?
-I'm from the SEC.
-It's a serious call?
-Yes.
-Yeah.
You called the wrong person.
I can't help you
with anything like that.
-Is this Douglas Fregin?
-Yes, ma'am.
-Sorry, I have you listed here
as one of the founders
of the company.
-I... Yeah, I guess I am not.
Uh...
-Doug?
-I got to go.
[Ringtone playing]
-I'm sorry.
Unknown number?
-No.
-Mr. Balsillie?
-Yes.
-Welcome to the NHL.
-Thanks for having me.
-Nice to meet you.
Just this way.
-Okay, great.
-Right in here.
-Yeah. Good to see you.
Thank you for taking the time.
-Oh, I've always got time
for you, Gary.
Get me on the phone
with Copps Coliseum.
-It's at the arena
in Hamilton.
-Yeah. Tell 'em
I want to buy it.
-Okay. So I thought you were
buying the Pittsburgh Penguins.
-Yes, I am. Let's go.
-Okay, we got to go.
-One sec.
This is it.
This is good enough.
This is good.
-This is good enough?
-Apple is launching
a marketplace for applications.
It's going to be
third party developers.
Any -- any -- any -- anyone --
-This is bad.
Bad time, bad time, bad time.
-Bad time.
-Third party developers.
-Hey, man.
-Yeah.
-It's laggy as hell.
-Good enough.
Good enough.
-Okay, now.
-Yeah, we got it.
-Doug, come on.
They're launching
an application marketplace.
-Okay.
So the touchpad is working.
I don't know if I would say
that it's working-working.
-[Sighs]
-What?
-Do you have a suit?
-2.4 inches,
480 by 360 HVGA screen,
and to top it all off,
the world's first trackpad,
which we believe will be
the dominant navigational
device for all mobile devices
within the next two years.
The BlackBerry Bold.
-That's it?
-Uh-huh.
-That -- that's what you got
for us?
A trackpad?
-Uh...
-Y-you guys see Apple's thing?
Any reaction to that?
-Plenty. Yeah.
It's an overdesigned,
trying-to-do-too-much toy
that will crash any network
gullible enough to take it on.
It is, by every metric,
the exact opposite of everything
we do at Research in Motion.
Less data, no frills,
reliable network.
Okay, that's BlackBerry.
-Sexy slogan, Mike.
-So, I guess you just want
to kill your whole network?
Because that's what it would do.
-Yeah. The iPhone, they put
a keyboard right on the screen.
-And it's the stupidest thing
I've ever seen
in my entire life.
Ask anyone what they love most
about their BlackBerry
and you will get the same answer
every single time:
The keyboard, the click.
Okay
Th-this --
-Well...
Yeah, yeah.
-This entire market
was born
of our innovation,
our idea to put a keyboard
on a phone.
We did that. We built that
from a pile of garbage in 1996.
-So, there's another slogan
I don't know, Mike.
AT&T's got Apple,
we were kind of hoping
you'd come in here
with an iPhone killer.
-I --
I don't need to kill it
because it's going
to commit suicide
and it's going to take down
the whole fucking
Cingular network with it.
I'm giving you gold,
and I think you're
all misunderstanding it.
Uh...
I created this entire
product class.
I created this
entire fucking market.
I created this entire
product class.
So listen to me --
the trackpad is a mouse pad.
Uh --
Built into the phone.
-Yeah.
And...
Right. Okay.
Yeah. Okay.
Good enough.
Thanks, guys, for coming down.
Tell you what.
Let us -- we'll we'll talk
about this internally.
We'll get back to you, okay?
Tell Jim we missed him.
-Let's go.
-He's back. Back in Waterloo,
working because...
So, he promised me
not to mention...
the other thing.
We're not quite there yet.
But we're working on
something pretty top secret.
He made me promise
not to mention it, um..
Prototype, we're still a few
weeks out, uh,
but, you know,
I can demo it
with our Bold prototype.
So it's still a BlackBerry.
It's our BlackBerry.
So you --
Except for where --
where we have keys here,
um, screen, the whole thing
is a screen, except ours,
when you press it, you'll get
that that satisfying click,
that BlackBerry click,
our trademark click.
So, screen, keyboard, phone.
Screen, keyboard, phone.
Screen, keyboard, phone.
Are you getting it?
-Mike. Mike?
What the fuck was that, dude!
-Where is this fucking limo?
-Capacity max is at 17,000,
but we can enhance it
to 19,000
without too much trouble.
-All right. I want all this
basketball shit gone.
From now on,
this place is a permanent rink.
-[Scoffs]
We can't do that.
-Why?
-We have active contracts
with a dozen clients.
-Cancel 'em.
-Yeah, but there's going to --
-I'll pay the fines.
I want that
to be my personal box.
-That's not a box.
That's not a box.
-No, no, no.
Okay, so it's a screen,
but it needs a raised hinge
or actuator,
as I wrote, between it
and the body
so the entire device clicks
when you press on it.
-[Muttering]
-Wait. What?
-I'm just wondering why
we want to do that.
-That -- that -- that --
is not the question
you ask me here.
I don't --
"Why" does not matter to you?
Okay?
Because I said so.
Because that's what I sold.
Okay?
Who are you, by the way?
-Easy, Mike.
[Ringtone playing]
-Oh, come on, guys, please.
Silent mode!
When we're at the office.
Charles!
-Phones off.
-Sorry. Sorry, Mike.
Sorry, everybody.
-Okay, so you know what I think
all this is,
is we're trying to do the old
BlackBerry click
while embracing
the new iPhone screen.
That's all.
-No, no, no.
We're not embracing
anything to do with Apple!
Guys!
It's really not hard.
Okay? We pay you a lot of money.
This is really not hard.
It's a keyboard on a screen,
on a keyboard.
And I don't care
what you think of it.
-Mike.
Fuck is Doug talking about.
Embracing what Apple is doing?
I don't understand.
-You come back from New York
talking about
a brand new phone, right?
Prototype in a week.
What are we doing here?
-Can I talk to you?
-It's a prototype,
Charles, I can build
the fucking thing myself
in a night if I had to.
-We still got to ship
the goddamn thing.
-I said use the Onyx --
-I did! On curve!
All right, China.
It's the only way
this gets done.
I'm sorry, China.
-Yeah. Fuck it. Do it.
China.
China. Let's do it.
-Wait. No, no.
He doesn't mean that.
-Hey, hey, hey. Don't --
Don't speak for me.
-But, Mike, what are you doing?
-What am I doing? I'm trying to
keep our biggest
fucking customer, what the fuck
are you doing?
-Mike, I'm trying to help you.
-You're not though.
You're not.
You're not helping me.
This doesn't help me.
If you can help me,
we wouldn't be here.
I don't need your fucking
help anymore, okay?
You're fucking useless!
-Okay.
-Figure out China
Figure out China.
And I'll build
the fucking thing myself.
Fuck.
[Telephone rings]
What?
-Is this Mike Lazaridis?
-Who's -- Who's this?
-My name is Dara Frankel.
I'm from the SEC.
Do you have a second?
-Not really. Not right now.
What is this about?
-I'm trying to track down
some information
on some stock options
your company issued.
-Well, that's not -- I wouldn't
know anything about that.
I think you'd want
to talk to Jim.
-Okay.
Would there be a good time
to come in and talk about this?
-No, I don't -- no.
-Okay. I'm here.
I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.
-Jack Manishen says
he needs to see you.
-Okay. Yeah. Where is he?
-Camped outside your office.
-Great.
-Shell, do me a favor.
Reach out to Carl Yankowski's
office and let him know
that Jim Balsillie's got
opening night tickets
to the Hamilton Penguins
for him.
I know how much
he loves hockey.
All right, all right. Relax.
You got me.
-That same woman from the SEC
keeps calling.
Can I give her your number?
-No.
-Okay, so first quarter,
second quarter, third quarter.
Fourth quarter.
And this is us.
[Clicking]
-Whose numbers are these?
-Apple's internal projections.
-They released the numbers
on Friday.
-$500 fully subsidized?
This is the most expensive
phone in the world.
-It has the highest
consumer interest
of any product in history.
We're going to go from
number one phone in the world
to that phone that people had
before they bought an iPhone.
-It's gonna be fine.
Mike'll figure it out.
[Knock on door]
What?
[Knocking harder]
-Hey, um...
Why is the SEC looking at us?
-They called you?
-Yeah. Something --
Something about stock options?
-I'm sure it's nothing. Yeah.
-It -- It's nothing?
-Yeah. What's with this
Apple thing?
-What--What about it?
-Are we worried?
-No.
-Okay. Why?
-Because one of them
uses as much data
as 5,000 BlackBerrys.
Because it has no keyboard.
Because the thing is a joke.
-So why are people telling me
that they're about to kill us?
-Because they're idiots.
-[Sighs]
-Get me a meeting
with Stan Sigman at AT&T.
-What are you doing?
[Beeps]
-Okay, so the soonest
I can get is next month.
His office said he's
leaving for vacation today.
-Tell him I'm coming
to Atlanta right now.
Let's go. Let's go!
Tell them we'll be there
in an hour.
-Hey, it's --
-Gary, how are you?
-Good. We're ready
to go over here.
How soon can
you get to New York?
-Great, uh...Anytime tomorrow.
-How about today?
-That might be
a little tight for me.
-I've got the board here now,
and I don't know
when they're all going
to be together again.
-If you want to wait,
up to you.
It's your deal.
-Yeah. No, that works, Gary.
I'll -- Yeah, I'll be there.
-Looking forward to it.
-Okay. Alright. Bye.
Change of plans.
We're going to JFK.
-We're dialed in.
-Listen to me, you mouthy fuck!
If I say we're going to JFK,
we're going to JFK!
Do you understand?
-So we're--we're not meeting
with Sigman, then?
-I'm doing it all.
-Hey!
Fuck.
[Groans]
-Where's Jim?
-I have no idea.
-C'mon, we got
to get you out of here.
-What? Why?
-SEC is raiding us.
-Wait, what?
-Give me your phone.
-[Sighs]
-Where's your goddamn phone?
[Knock on door]
-Mike Lazaridis?
-Can you handle this?
Who are you?
-We spoke on the phone.
You want to come and answer
some questions?
-Sure. Sure.
After me, is it? Okay.
-Okay.
-Okay, what?
What are they doing?
That's -- That's -- No, no.
They can't touch
any of that stuff.
They --
-Passwords on everything.
-Oh.
What's the password, Mike?
-Am I required
to give that to you?
-No.
Are you hiding something?
-Um...
Should I not have a lawyer
or something with me for this?
-Do you think you need a lawyer?
-Jim.
-Gary, what's going on?
You got me --
got me waiting out here.
-Jim, look, we're not going to
waste your time here, okay?
It's not going to happen
with you and the Penguins.
-What?
-We held a vote with the other
owners and unfortunately,
it went against you, 26 to 0.
-Hold on a second.
Hold on, hold on.
I thought we had a deal.
When did the other owners
even get...?
I'm sorry.
What changed here, man?
-The owners did not find you
to be of good
character and integrity.
-I don't know
what the hell that means.
Gary, what the fuck is this?
-You know, it's funny.
It's one thing
to have a secret plan
to fuck over the NHL
and move a team to Canada.
It's another thing to brag
to your rich friends before you
actually do it.
-[Scoffs]
-Oh, you guys are
so fucking stupid.
You know what? Maybe I'll buy
this whole fucking league.
Huh? How about that?
-Don, can we see that
Mr. Balsillie
get safely back to Canada?
-Oh, fuck all you people!
Fuck you!
Get ready for a hostile takeover
of this entire fucking league,
okay, you fuck?
You think I won't fucking do it?
I'm from Waterloo,
where the vampires hang out!
Go, go, go, go, go!
-We'll never make it.
-I said let's go!
-Delay Sigman.
-I called.
They said he's already left
for vacation?
-Where?
-They just said
he's going to the airport.
-Great, so are we.
[Plane engine whirs]
-And is this your signature?
-Yep.
-And this?
I don't know
what you're looking for.
These are standard
employment contracts.
-I'm just wondering how you
convinced all these engineers
from around the world
to come all the way to Canada.
It doesn't make sense.
-It's because they get to work
on the best phone in the world.
-Mike.
-Hmm?
-Each of these contracts
offers backdated stock options.
You were illegally pricing
your own shares
so you could hire engineers
with money you didn't have.
Do you know what the sentence is
for multi-million dollar
stock fraud?
-Okay, I swear I had no idea
about any of what you just said.
-Do you expect me
to believe that?
You're CEO.
-Co-CEO.
-Tell me why this can't wait
another few weeks.
-I'm telling you, Stan.
-I'm headed for the terminal
right now.
-What?
-Well, hold on.
-I'm at gate 7. Where are you?
-Are you running?
-No, Stan. No, I'm good.
I'm telling you, I'm --
just give me the gate.
-I'm getting
on a plane here, Jim.
-Okay, listen, Stan.
Alright, here's the headline.
Half a million BlackBerrys
for AT&T for $0.
-What's the catch?
-Nope. No catch.
They're yours if you're willing
to release them at a discount
one month before the iPhone.
-[Sighs]
-Stan, come on. You owe me.
You've sold a lot of minutes
because of us.
-Yeah, but you know
what the problem
with selling minutes is?
-What?
-There's only one minute
in a minute.
[Call disconnects]
[Breathing hard]
[Cellphone rings]
-Hey.
-Okay, Mike, listen to me.
I think we've got
a big problem here.
I know what Apple's doing.
-We shouldn't
talk on the phone.
-Why?
-Um, we're in trouble.
-Why?
-We're in trouble with the SEC.
But get back as soon as you can.
I have a way
to get us out of this.
[Badge beeps]
-Hey.
Okay, so, listen.
AT&T knows exactly
what they're doing.
They wanted Apple to build them
a data-guzzling monster,
because that's where they're
going to move the market.
They're not selling minutes
anymore, Mike.
They're selling data.
-He's here.
-Who's that?
-They're waiting
for you next door.
-Who's --
What -- What did you do?
-I made a deal.
The SEC gets you,
your board seat,
and our full cooperation
in their criminal investigation.
And for that,
they'll leave us alone.
And they want $183 million.
-You said next door?
[Indistinct chatter]
[Buzzing sound]
[Buzzing stops]
-Dirty old river,
must you keep rolling
Into the night
People so busy,
make me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don't
Need no friends
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day, I look
at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly
is the evening time
Waterloo sunset's fine
-Waterloo sunset's fine
Terry meets Julie,
Waterloo station
Every Friday night
But I am so lazy,
don't want to wander
I stay home at night
But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in paradise