BlackBerry
Why AI will dwarf every tech revolution before it: robots, manufacturing, AR glasses from CES 2026 adds BlackBerry to a Transitional AI Hardware comparison. The source uses old devices such as BlackBerry, Google Glass, and Theranos as mirrors for current AI-era products: some devices may be obsolete dead ends, while others may be early examples of categories that become normal after form factor, platform, or social context changes.
BlackBerry appears in Eric Migicovsky on Pebble, Kickstarter, and Building for Yourself as the mobile platform that made Eric Migicovsky’s early watch technically practical. The first prototype had worked conceptually with iPhone, but the source says iPhone lacked the needed Bluetooth API while BlackBerry offered accessory support.
The BlackBerry dependency made Impulse visible and fragile at the same time. Press and bloggers called it the “BlackBerry watch,” creating thousands of signups, but by the time the product shipped many interested customers had switched to iPhone. The case connects platform API access to Consumer Hardware Startup Risk: the platform that enables a device can also narrow its market and expire before production catches up.
Connections
- Eric Migicovsky, Alerta, Impulse, and Pebble - source founder and hardware path.
- Apple and iPhone - platform contrast in the source.
- Customer Pull, Consumer Hardware Startup Risk, and Consumer Electronics Lifecycle - concepts illustrated by the platform shift.
- Transitional AI Hardware, Google Glass, and Consumer AI Hardware Product Fit / 消费级AI硬件产品适配 - old-device mirror added by All-In.