RIM CEO's stepping down

[akugami]

RIM's Co-CEO's stepping down

Long long overdue. Possibly too little too late.

 

[janas19]

He should join the consulting firm with that ex-AMD CEO. That would be an awesome fusion lol

 

[silverpig]

About time. Hopefully they get someone who can revive the company and get thing back on track.

 

[silverpig]

Thorstein Heins is the new CEO.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

This is good news for RIM shareholders. IMO RIM management never understood how to compete in a rabidly evolving consumer-centric market. They were always a company that was based around catering to enterprise users. They were massively successful in the consumer market with the pearl and curve lines but it had a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time. There was no way they were ever going to be able to out innovate companies like Apple and Google.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Here's the new guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFwhpcrCTw

 

[JS80]

Here's the new guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFwhpcrCTw

Something tells me this guy won't last a year.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Hand picked by a couple of guys seriously out of touch, yeah, he's doomed

Although...

http://crackberry.com/and-thorsten-...all-ceo-research-motion-goes-crackberry-kevin

Looks like the plan is to double down on what's already in motion.

Dunno, if it were me, I'd kill the PlayBook, retask those folks to BB 10 or lay them off, and hire a ton of folks to polish up BB 10.

(I sort of hope they don't kill the PlayBook, I want the upgraded OS)

 

[Bateluer]

This guy's been handpicked to sell the company. He's a willing patsy, at best.

 

[BenSkywalker]

If I were given the helm- cancel all BB OS development- all devs start working on getting a BB build of ICS up and running with a distinct look that won't be confused(Nook Color/Amazon Fire type changes). Get all of the BB functionality running on the device(BBM/BBX, etc) and throw in something like a die shrunk Tegra2 with a ~3.7" 800x480 display and a slider keyboard.

Killer battery life, the option for a ton of apps and the most important short term element- stop the bleeding of marketshare. It's pretty hard for IT departments to defend the shortcomings of the BB platform now, give people comparable functionality to the iPhone and Android devices and you can stop the bleeding the move on from there.

BTW- I used ICS simply because it's open, if iOS were the same it would work equally well.

 

[trmiv]

Here's the new guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFwhpcrCTw

He sounds like a guy doing really bad a job interview. Like they asked him "What's your biggest weakness" and he tried the old 'turn a strength into a weakness' bit.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Wall Street doesn't like the changes, down 5% already...

 

[gotsmack]

If I were given the helm- cancel all BB OS development- all devs start working on getting a BB build of ICS up and running with a distinct look that won't be confused(Nook Color/Amazon Fire type changes). Get all of the BB functionality running on the device(BBM/BBX, etc) and throw in something like a die shrunk Tegra2 with a ~3.7" 800x480 display and a slider keyboard.

Killer battery life, the option for a ton of apps and the most important short term element- stop the bleeding of marketshare. It's pretty hard for IT departments to defend the shortcomings of the BB platform now, give people comparable functionality to the iPhone and Android devices and you can stop the bleeding the move on from there.

BTW- I used ICS simply because it's open, if iOS were the same it would work equally well.

Disagree. Their push E-mail system is the secret sauce. Putting it on android is like releasing the recipe for Coca-Cola. What they are doing is the best course of action, develop a rock solid OS and have it compatible with Android apps. Where they screwed up is not licensing out their OS. What they need to do now is:

1. learn how to cut down on product cycle times, steal some top people from HTC/Samsung/Apple
2. make sure BBX is rock solid and has all the capabilities people expect from the BB platform + what people are expecting from current gen smart phones, like no lag, full web browsing and you tube. Don;t worry about weight too much, if it is on the heavier side of current phones, it'll be ok as long as battery life is good.

 

[Dari]

This is the same guy that lead their smartphone platform, right? So, basically, nothing's changed.

 

[Red Storm]

They needed to step down and then be thrown out.

In other news, our company's last Blackberry user switched over into the Android/iOS camp today. In one year we went from 183 BB users to 0.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Wall Street doesn't like the changes, down 5% already...

The talking heads on TV said it was because the market didn't like them picking an insider as the new CEO. I have a different theory, I think the CEO's stepping down signaled that they had a horrible quarter so the market lowered expectations for earnings.

 

[Pliablemoose]

The talking heads on TV said it was because the market didn't like them picking an insider as the new CEO. I have a different theory, I think the CEO's stepping down signaled that they had a horrible quarter so the market lowered expectations for earnings.

I think they stepped down in title only, this is smoke and mirrors....

 

[mammador]

Having 2 CEO's is silly, but I think too much rests on building a new OS.

But it's not just the OS, but the basic functionality/build quality of BB phones, which really is shitty relative to Apple and Samsung (and maybe even Nokia, HTC and Motorola). If I were this new CEO, I would dump the existing product portfolio. A bold or Torch is pants compared to the iPhone 4S or Galaxy II. They basically need better marketing, and I agree with the poster who said steal some people from the other smartphone makers.

 

[ew915]

Too little too late, this is just a gimmick so when the company fails completely they can blame it on the new guy.