CEOs of RIM Step Down

An anonymous reader writes "After two decades of leading the BlackBerry maker, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balisillie are stepping down from their roles as Co-CEOs at Canada's Research In Motion Limited. Thorsten Heins will now lead RIM as it attempts to beat the likes of Apple and Google."

Comments

Re:Too late?

[Mockylock]

You're absolutely right. They did nothing to react to the rest of the smartphone devices when they were pulling in money. It seemed as if years went by and their devices were exactly the same, as well as the same interface and services... all while the rest of the world was changing on a daily basis. That money should have been tossed in R&D while they had it, and now it's too late. With the interaction you can get from other solutions (exchange/web/etc) and better phones, they're way too late on switching out leaders. I don't believe they have enough revenue coming in to catch up. I'm guessing when stock drops more, a company such as Microsoft will gobble them up, considering MS is looking for a business platform for Windows Phone and has enough money to turn it around.

Re:I don't see the problem, enlighten me?

[Ubergrendle]

You are not out of touch. RIM is still profitable and has a large entrenched market share. They are actually growing in BRIC countries, where the better battery life + lower cost + combined e-mail/internet/phone footprint makes alot of sense. Not everyone needs $0.99 fart apps, or can afford $0.99 USD songs for their ipod replacement.

RIM is in trouble, but not disasterously so. Their market share decline isn't an absolute decline; its that the iphone and android market has grown so large due to their consumer focus. The consumer market is bigger than the business/professional market...always has been, always will be.

RIM offers a reliable delivery network not dependent upon a pastiche of ISPs/phone carriers. The central management is a huge advantage for enterprises. And the device itself is more secure and reliable than any of the other whiz-bang devices.

My corporation just completed a 1000 user trial of iphone replacement for BB. The program was cancelled 1 month into the 3 month pilot; the BB's reliability and keyboard (and calendaring) was irreplaceable.

RIM"s biggest challenge at this point is they lack growth (a big no-no in our 'quarterly results' driven culture)... their primary business is replacement sales -- steady revenue. They've missed consumer growth opportunities ... I had a pearl, it was awful. D