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Breaking news, reaction and analysis into RIM's CEO shakeup
Tracking the moving story with Globe and Mail reporters, editors and expert analysts
- Right now listening to statement from Barbara Stymiest, the new chair of Research in Motion's board, saying that Mr. Heins hiring was approved unanimously.
- Ms. Stymiest notes both Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Balsillie are staying with company as directors on its board, and Mr. Lazaridis will head new innovation committee
- Thorsten Heins, the new CEO, is on RIM's conference call now. He's talking about how the company has strong financials and now needs to focusing on execution. He says they've hit some "bumps in the road" but that he's proud of the team moving forward.
- Heins talking about how RIM needs to hire a new chief marketing officer. He talked about this in our interview on Sunday in Waterloo, how the public perception of the company is out of line with the company's financial and market position. Him and Barbara Stymiest, RIM's new board chair, are about to take questions from analysts. Should be interesting.
- For your information, the other folks in today's liveblog are Iain Marlow, technology reporter for The Globe and Mail. Also listening in is Tim Kiladze, reporter for Globe Investor and blogger for Streetwise.
- Mr. Heins talks about building a culture that looks at both short-and-long-term growth and one that makes people "accountable for their actions"
- Heins is talking about RIM's international growth. "The U.S... is a bit different... We need to be more marketing driven, more consumer-oriented..."
- Plans for U.S.: “We need to be more marketing driven. We need to be more consumer driven.”.... “We need to engage more with the consumer base.”
- Let it be said that RIM is a huge presence and a valuable, untarnished brand in emerging markets and the global south, where smartphone growth is in its early stages and has huge potential.
- "Execution has to be really precise," Heins says. "You're never perfect, you always strive to get to perfection. But I'm pretty sure this will really help us a lot."
- Amusing moment when Heins enthusiastically greets an analyst "Hey Richard, how you doing?" Analyst kinda brushes his greeting aside and piles ahead with his question... about low end smartphone market and the app ecosystem.
- Analyst asking about RIM moving down the value chain into more low-end devices. The eternal question: Should RIM try and be Nokia? "You call it the low-end market... I call it the entry level smartphone segment," Heins says, and referring to RIM's attempts to get entry-level, first-time smartphone users, he adds:
"There's still a lot of feature phone users out there." - To get people in Asia buying RIM smartphones: “You need to give them a good landing point that allows them to really experience the smartphone capabailites on a blackberry.”
- Internally, RIM refers to the process of convincing people to upgrade their phones to smartphones as "onboarding”. Heins wants to be a major player in entry level smartphone segment so the transition is easy
- Talk turns to QNX: "Frankly, I give big kudos to Mike Lazaridis for acquiring QNX and understanding how big this was.”
- Analyst asking why Heins has so much faith in the new QNX-based BlackBerry 10 operating system, which will run on RIM's next batch of phones, given the analyst thinks its a "me-too" operating system that will only move RIM up to par with its competitors.
- Question about QNX - is it a me-too OS, What about BB10 will convince users to come back to BlackBerry
Heins answers this way:
It is an existing OS, did you know all the core routers of the Internet run QNX, 'it is a proven OS' allows "true" multi-tasking. - New RIM CEO Heins talking about his "BlackBerry for everyone" strategy. Not an Oprah-style giveaway, sadly.by kevinroose via twitter 1/23/2012 1:23:44 PM
- “My view on RIM is a very, very clear view.” Heins says device-only segment “is a cutthroat price and cost business.” You need to have an entire ecosystem. “I will not in anyway split this [company] up or separate this into different businesses.”
- Heins said he's open to talking to licensing RIM's BB10 operating system to other handset manufacturers, though it's not his focus.
- He wants a new chief marketing officer "ASAP," because that's an area that RIM needs to "strengthen."
- Re: marketing position: core element of this function is communication to all markets “but it’s also to listen." Heins says RIM needs more of an ear to consumer market and must be able to pick up on trends
- Listening to Thorsten Heins address the World for the first time as RIM's CEO/President. Very impressed with what I'm hearing ...by n_adam_stanley via twitter 1/23/2012 1:27:06 PM
If you are curious what Heins looks and sounds like, take a look at this video RIM released
- #technology Thorston Heins: a few facts about the new RIM CEO t.coby eFunnel via twitter 1/23/2012 1:28:23 PM
- Another video for you to check out, Globe technology writer Omar El Akkad on Canada AM: www.theglobeandmail.com
- And call is over! That was quick, no?
- Heins says that when he joined RIM it “was growing, but was still acting as a startup”. Adds: “Startup processes and environments don’t scale.”
- General reaction on Twitter to the Heins YouTube video, by the way, seems pretty negative. Lots of mentions of rambling from industry watchers. Some RIM employees I follow, though, seemed super enthused. And at least one analyst seemed super impressed that they were trying a new communications strategy.
- It does seem like new 'talking to customers' approach to RIM corp communications and customers.
- Let me fill you in on our coverage so far, in case you haven't had a chance to read everything.
The story that broke the news: Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis out, Thorsten Heins in as CEO of RIM - Iain and Rita Trichur wrote this, which includes an interview with Heins:
Heins eager to prove he’s up to the task at RIM - From Boyd Erman: RIM must dispel any doubt that Heins is running show
- And here's more from Heins, by Iain Marlow: “It’s a fantastic growth story and it’s not coming to an end,” Mr. Heins said. “What you will see with me is rigour and flawless execution.”
At Research In Motion, a new CEO vows to silence the doomsayers - If Heins is so great at operations and process improvement, what has he been doing for the last 5 years as RIM COO?by ericjackson via twitter 1/23/2012 1:55:06 PM
- Perhaps the Canadians believe in spring cleaning during the Lunar New Year too.
RIM co-CEOs resign; Heins takes overby CNET Asia via facebook 1/23/2012 1:57:38 PM - RIM shares are now down -- 3.7 per cent in Nasdaq premarket trading and 5.4 per cent in Frankfurt. Before the conference call, they were up 3 to 4 per cent.
- Pretty quick!
- Here's what some analysts had to say before the conference call:
- "While we think this is a small step in the right direction, we are surprised RIM has decided to go with an operations-minded insider, especially since we consider the challenges tied more to strategy."
- UBS analyst Phillip Huang, who maintains his "neutral" rating and $15.50 (U.S.) price target. - "While the change in management might reinvigorate the employee base, improve execution, or even increase interest from potential acquirers, we maintain our belief the new BB 10 OS will not stem ongoing market share losses to Android and iOS."
- Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley, who rates the stock "hold" and has a $15 price target. - Um ... RIM shares now down in premarket. $RIMM $RIM.CA #blackberry #rim t.coby michaelbabad via twitter 1/23/2012 2:02:05 PM
- And these comments just in from Brigantine Advisors Kevin Dede: "We believe many may see the transition as broadly sweeping and a step in the right direction, but we are not convinced that things could change appreciably; first: Heins has been a member of RIM's management team since 2007, clearly indoctrinated to the existing culture of the firm; and second: judging by comments in the press release, Heins views the company's current strategies as appropriate adjustments in addressing RIM's position, which may be enough to say that he is complacent as well as complicit in the massive smartphone market share losses.
"On the positive, we note the firm's historic struggle to execute quickly, and shifting ultimate decision making to a manager with more extensive operational experience may expedite remediating this characteristic. Despite the reorganization, we maintain our Hold rating." - On the day new CEO takes over, RIM is sued for patent infringement by Ottawa firm Wi-Lanby omarelakkad via twitter 1/23/2012 2:11:48 PM
- Digging into the reaction of the U.S. tech blogs now, here's some interesting lines. From Darren Murph, managing editor of Engadget:
"I'm getting an all-too-familiar "burning platform" vibe here, and while I'm not saying that RIM should just adopt Windows Phone or Android and toss the admittedly delectable QNX aside, Heins is clearly sipping some strange, strange sauce if he's mulling the licensing of BlackBerry 10 to other manufacturers."
