RIM CEOs step down, focus will be on two new Blackberry devices

james

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Analysts have been calling it for quite some time, but with signs like these how could you not. RIM's stock plummeted 77% in 2011 and the company's smartphones kept losing ground to Apple's iPhone and the army of Android devices. Meanwhile the launch of the Playbook tablet was a complete failure. On the other hand, Amazon using essentially the same hardware quickly rose a few months later to become the iPad's #1 competitor.

With that kind of increasing pressure on their hands, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (co-founder) have stepped down from their co-CEO positions. The company also kept dual-COOs. Thorsten Heins which served one such position will become the new CEO. Barbara Stymiest who served as a board member and was though to become CEO will instead occupy the chairwoman's seat.

Along with the announcement, RIM reinforced its plans to launch a new smartphone based on the new Blackberry 10 operating system before the end of the year. A second-gen Playbook tablet, also set to use the company's upcoming platform is the second major device RIM is working on for 2012. There's also been speculation that Blackberry 10 OS could be opened up and made available for third parties to license.

Read more at http://www.techspot.com/news/47132-...us-will-be-on-two-new-blackberry-devices.html
 
 
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