Introduced in 1999, the BlackBerry has taken the world by storm. It has virtually revolutionized the wireless telecommunications business, setting the bar high for its competitors, and, in the process, became one of the world's best-known and most revered consumer brands.

Not everyone gets labeled "an essential service" by the U. S. Government - BlackBerry did. And millions of other users across the country are a proof of that.

You might also want to know that largest user of BlackBerry, with more than one million subscribers, is the U. S. Government. Citibank gets to be its biggest private sector customer.

During its conception in 1999, the household name was almost never to be heard of. The short-listed names for the then new product was "Blade", until someone within the company checked online and found that one of the Blade domains - led to a porn site. "Byline" and "Outrigger" were other finalist names.

Here's for another interesting fact about BlackBerry. It took five years for the company, which would be from 1999 to 2004, to sign up the first one million BlackBerry subscribers. Forward it to the present day, and this is what you'll find - One million new customers join every month, choosing among a dozen models which are sold by more than 500 carriers across 170 countries.

Oprah Winfrey is considered among its earliest fans. In 2003, she declared BlackBerry as one of her "favorite things". We agree Oprah, not a bad choice there.

But here's the cherry. President Barack Obama refused to part with his when he moved into the White House and was told to give it up for security reasons. Yes, you can brag about that BlackBerry.