This past Monday, Research In Motion (RIM) rolled out the red carpet at their Philip street production facility giving Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip a tour of production lines.
After leaving Toronto on a short 25 minute flight, the royals were shuttled via a motorcade of limousines to RIM’s campus for their tour. Premier Dalton McGuinty, and RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis was also present during the tour meant to display RIM’s technological accomplishments to the Queen.
Onlookers lined Philip street in front of the production facility hoping to catch a glimpse of the Queen before she entered the building.
Donning a white electrostatic discharge preventing smock emblazoned with RIM’s logo over her outfit, the Queen toured the building. Along with Prince Philip and many others, she observed the assembly of BlackBerry Smartphones from start to finish.
The Queen, reportedly an avid BlackBerry user, received a new white BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone from RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis before leaving the property and returning to her waiting plane at Waterloo Regional Airport for her return flight to Toronto.
From her arrival to departure, the Queen’s trip to the Region (more so just to visit RIM), lasted just over an single hour.
Prior to Monday’s brief visit, the Queen last toured the Waterloo Region back in 1973.
Yesterday, the Queen finished up her 22nd royal tour of Canada before leaving for New York City from Person International Airport in Toronto.
Her tour began after her arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia last week Monday. Her travels brought her to the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa where she made an address on parliament hill.
After spending several days in Ottawa, the Queen and Prince Philip became the first passengers to Winnipeg’s new international airport before jet-setting off to Toronto for the final leg of her tour.
Gaurav
“The Queen, reportedly an avid BlackBerry user…”
haha, is that the new marketing idea? 😛