Last week when we heard RIM’s Mike Lazaridius and Jim Balsille would be stepping down as co-CEOs, we knew this was the first step in attempting to revamp the RIM brand.
Thorsten Heins, the new COO, will now lead the way in whatever the company thinks is the best strategy for their comeback, which we think is some drastic change—but Heins seems to see the situation differently. In an interview with Crackberry, he said “Just take a look where the Android OEMs are. I leave this to you. Take a look at their recent announcements and what you will immediately see is there is just no room for differentiation because they are all the same.” Heins then went on to say RIM “[chose] the harder way. [...] Did we miss on some commitments? Yes, I admit that. That happens in high tech. This is not baking cookies.”
While RIM’s statement may be true in the literal sense, we can’t help but think the whole process is a lot like baking cookies. You start out with an idea (the recipe), combined with the right tech (the ingredients), and then you collaborate (mix and bake), to produce the final product (the cookies).
Lazaridis also made the point that, “[t]here comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership [...] Jim and I went to the Board and told them that we thought that time was now.”
Heins’ outlook on the company’s future and the other competition strikes us. Later in the interview he emphasized, “[t]here is a LOT of change. There is a lot of structure change, there has been already a lot of change in terms of our software, our software platform, bringing QNX in. There is no standstill at any moment here at RIM.”
Unless you count the 4 day unexplainable network blackout… and their low profits… and their lack of market share….
(via Daily Tech; photo via Milk & Cookies)
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