Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg

BlackBerry

Research In Motion (RIMM) first offered the BlackBerry in 1999 as a two-way pager. By 2002 the Canadian company was offering a wireless mobile device with an e-mail application and other features popular with business users.

Introduced: Research In Motion premiered on the Nasdaq on Feb. 4, 1999.
Immediate stock impact: Research In Motion shares were up 708% in their first year of trading.
Long-term performance: Shares gave up their early gains by 2001, but rebounded strongly from 2003 to 2008. Shares now trade at 32 times their initial offering price.

next slide previous slide