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Following the decision by NOAA to drop 3000 BlackBerry devices from its program in favor of iPhones, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has announced that it will decommission nearly 4000 BlackBerry phones currently in use by its agents and employees. BlackBerry will be “deleted from the mix”. Between the two agencies, there will be nearly 7000 BlackBerries being retired from the service. The process should be completed before the end of the year.

The PlayBook may have finally had email but Jesse Hicks at the Verge has put together a thorough piece about the fall of Research in Motion. The company went from being a highly successful and a leading smartphone vendor to one that has had its relevance eroded, has piled on losses, is struggling to survive, and being severely upstaged by relative newcomers to the industry.

It tells the story of how Mike Lazaridis became super defensive when a BBC interviewer asked about RIM’s security concerns as well as its deals with a number of Asian governments. It also tells the history of RIM, how it got to be where it is today and what contributed to its fall from grace. It is about as complete as a history account of Research in Motion that you can find.