Research in Motion is the largest employer in Waterloo Region and the catalyst for the local tech sector boom, and many companies have followed its lead, ensuring the local smartphone industry now extends well past RIM’s campus.
Toronto-based technology expert Kevin Restivo says without RIM’s presence, the entire local tech ecosystem would exist on a much smaller scale.
“So many people have worked for RIM … who have created their own company or have gone to work for other companies (in Waterloo Region),” he says.
There are about 700 Waterloo-based tech companies, many of which are involved in information and communication technology (ICT).
“About 80 per cent of the tech companies in ICT, so that means they’re going to have some sort of mobile strategy,” says Iain Klugman, president of Communitech.
Those mobile strategies are key, because it’s not just local tech companies looking at how to capture the mobile market – and not just hardcore tech aficionados out there waiting to be captured.
“There’s almost no business in the world, whether it’s trucking or food processing or insurance, that isn’t thinking about … how to develop their mobile strategy,” says Klugman.
Andrew MacLeod, RIM’s Canadian managing director, says RIM’s influence on the smartphone world goes well beyond Waterloo Region.
“Research in Motion played a key role in the whole … revolution of the smartphone industry, and I think it has an important place in our industry,” he says.
RIM is set to launch products with its new BlackBerry 10 operating system Wednesday. Free skating events are planned in Kitchener and Waterloo, with larger launch events in Toronto, New York City and other locations around the globe.
