In the 2000s, the Blackberry of the Canadian company "Research in Motion" was the "manager's darling." When someone received an email at a meeting and a small, red lamp blinked, users were in awe. They could see the future.

A lot of progress has been made since then: Apple and its iPhone have conquered the world, and Google and its Android appliances have subsequently spread across the globe. Now Blackberry seeks to fill a niche apart from its colossal competitors.

A lot of standard technology - and a square screen

Meet the company's newest flagship smartphone, the "Blackberry Passport," which was launched in Toronto on Wednesday, September 24. Those who hold it in their hand for the first time come to the opinion that it's "totally hideous" or "Cool, why didn't anyone come up with this idea before?" There is not much room for thought in between.

The Passport is polarizing to them, above all through its unusual form. The most pronounced change is the square screen that measures 11.4 cm (4.5 inches) diagonally. There is also a keyboard that the company boasts is four times more accurate for the user than the phone's competitors.

A special highlight: the surface of this keyboard can be used as a touchpad, similarly to laptops where you can control the mouse pointer over such a touch-sensitive area.

The rest is cell phone technology more or less nothing special: batteries, camera, processor, screen saver – everything found in current technology, but nothing that really allows the device to stand out from the masses.

But that's not a big deal, because Blackberry has largely withdrawn from the mass market. Their current goal is the "lucrative niche." And for that you need appliances that attract attention without being exotic - and must therefore contain expensive technology.

Controlling and deciphering

Just as in their early years, Blackberry continues to seek out its customers in the business world. But it can no longer score big points with its focus on mobile and quick email communication. That's now the standard of the smartphone world.

Blackberry targets two points that until recently have been left out by mass producers: a better cost control for the employees' devices and the encoding of shared technology.

In the last years, Blackberry bought part of this technological know-how.. At the end of July, for example, they took over the Düsseldorf company "Secusmart" - known for producing the "Crypto-Cell Phone" for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. At a time when the wiretapping scandal provides the company with a great deal of uncertainty, the purchase seems to be a smart move by Blackberry.

Will the Blackberry Passport remain on the market?

Blackberry's new business course is already being honored on the stock exchange. Since John Chef took over as CEO in November 2013, the share price has already shot up by 60 percent.

There is, however, no comparison to the high stock prices it enjoyed in the past. Today Blackberry boasts a good $10 (7.87 euros) per share, but in 2008 -some months before the iPhone launched - it was almost $150.

As Blackberry seeks to take more customers under its wings, it's entered a partnership with IBM. Yet it is highly likely that that Blackberry will soon become uncomfortable in its niche - and that the Blackberry Passport will consequently become obsolete.