I realize you're being clever by substituting the original poster's argument, but RIM did indeed create a new category.
When the Blackberry shipped, it wasn't a smartphone. It wasn't a phone at all. It was a dedicated email device. And it was pretty much alone in that category.
It became popular in businesses that had previously been using pagers (specifically 2-way pagers), and eventually they added a phone component (which was actually terrible for the first few iterations).
What made the Blackberry a success was the fact that RIM created a new category ......