Over the past couple months there has been a battle between Apple and Research In Motion. You might remember when Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs went on a tirade about how they have “now passed RIM. And I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future”. Then RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie fired back and said that “customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple”.
Whichever side you take the mobile industry is certainly heating up and manufacturers are doing what they can to stay ahead of their competition. Take the latest hiring moves by Apple. They have decided to start getting talent directly from their competition. Not a new tactic but in this case Apple has hired 5 of RIM’s enterprise sales team members over the last 18-months. Which has got to hurt.
RIM didn’t comment but Apple confirmed they have brought on the following individuals from RIM:
– Geoff Perfect joined Apple April 2009 and is Head of Enterprise iPhone Sales (was Head of Strategic Sales)
– Joe Bartlett left early 2010 to sell iOS devices to businesses (was RIM’s Senior Global Sales Manager)
– Steve Marshall left early 2010 to sell iOS devices to businesses (was RIM’s Global Strategic Account Manager)
– Peter Decker left early 2010 to sell iOS devices to businesses (was RIM’s Global Account Manager)
– Paul Alvarez left in June and is selling iPhones & iPads to enterprise markets here in Canada (was another RIM Global Strategic Account Manager)
Source: WSJ
Via: Apple Insider
