Before co-founding RIM in 1984, Mike Lazaridis [born 1961] built hand buzzers for the teen quiz show Reach for the Top. In 1994, he won an Emmy for technical work in television, and in 1999 an Academy Award for developing an innovative film-reader. A profile of the Waterloo University drop-out here. Another profile of Lazaridis with his co-founder Jim Balsille [born 1961] here.
Some including Canaccord Capital now caution shareholders to unload their RIM positions because RIM's latest touch screen Storm product underwhelms in the fickle, fashionable, risky consumer electronics space.
An earlier reference to RIM here.
