RIM’s new CEO, after three days, has had two more interviews than the co-CEO team of Lazaridis and Balsillie ever gave the blogging media.
Thorsten Heins granted Crackberry a pretty decent chunk of time and answered some pressing questions about the future of the company. As for the claim that RIM is going to stay relatively unchanged? He was referring to not splitting up the company into smaller parts. But Heins insists there is going to be “a lot of change” in and around the RIMisphere.
As for changing to Android? He dismissed that possibility, claiming all Android handsets “are all the same” and that there is “no room for differentiation.” Realistically, he has to say that, but it’s probably the right move. RIM would probably never gain the traction in a saturated Android market the way Nokia has the potential to do with the relatively unfettered Windows Phone ecosystem.
He sounds very confident: “We believe in our own strength, we are BlackBerry, we are an integrated solution, hardware, software, services, and network.” We have to remember there is a lot more to the company than just consumer handsets, and that RIM is in a good position, even if they never regain the market share they once had in North America, to move into different markets with QNX.
There is also humility there: he admitted to not hitting some targets in the last couple years: “Did we miss on some commitments? Yes, I admit that.” Perhaps that’s why Fairfax Financial buying 14 million RIM shares.
Source: Crackberry
