Balls Out: RIM Ex Co-CEO Bails Before 4Q Fiscal 2012 Earnings Announcement

(Photo via wallpapersgalaxy.com)

So much for the Captain going down with the ship. In true Schettino fashion, Balsillie retired from the company he helped to create as it continues to experience its fall from grace. Additionally, Newly minted CEO Heins cleaned up his shop, so we can all say goodbye to the current CTO and COO along with a handful of SVPs and VPs. Keeping with this theme, RIM bid adieu to their profits in the 4th quarter to the tune of a 125 million dollar loss. All in all, a shitty start for Heins who inherited a mess.

Everything comes down to BlackBerry 10, which is slated to hit the market later in 2012. So we're looking at 3 quarters of stale products before the next gen phone comes out (BTW RIM shipped 21% less Blackberrys in the last quarter of their fiscal year. Not good.). I really hope that any new phones they release between now and then will be compatible with the new OS (we all know this is not gonna happen).

RIM is betting the Waterloo on BB 10 and it better pay off. Or else you might buy your Samsung BlackBerry very soon.

-Paqman

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss(es)?: RIM Shakes Up Leadership Structure

RIM's newly appointed CEO Thorsten Heins (Photo via rim.com)

After months of speculation and pressure from investors, RIM has shuffled the top of the hill as former COO Thorsten Heins takes over as President and CEO. Gone is the ridiculous co-CEO structure as Balsillie and Lazaridis are now Board members. This is great news for RIM as they now have stability and fresh blood in the driver's seat.

According to what I've gathered, Heins will focus on marketing RIM's line of Blackberry products, OS 7.1, the Playbook and BB 10, and delivering a proper consumer experience with clear communications. RIM's fall from grace is due to their inability to recognise changes in the market (come on y'all, you couldn't create a SWOT analysis and action it??) as Apple and Google swooped in to take their market share with friendlier, stable handsets. Heins will need to be aware of these changes or will not be around long enough for anyone to remember his name.

I wish Heins all the best as he takes the reigns of a company in flux. If he can focus on setting reasonable expectations and delivering on them, RIM will be in a very good position in the market. If he doesn't, it will be more "same old, same old" as consumer confidence will continue to plunge. Heins' first order of business will be to ensure that OS 2.0 for the Playbook is released by the end of February. If he doesn't deliver on this, he will have some rough times ahead.

-Paqman

Nothing But RIM: Blackberry Maker Misses The Mark With Playbook OS 2.0 Launch Delay

(Photos via rim.com)

I'm going to keep this as short and bitter as possible (click here for the original rant post). David J. Smith, SVP, BlackBerry PlayBook, from RIM announced yesterday that the Playbook OS 2.0 is "expected" to be available to the masses by February 2012. Which is fine, even though I was reeeeeeaaaaaaaally looking forward to getting the update this fall. And why would I even expect to get it this fall?

That's the expectation that was set by everybody's favorite hockey franchise hunting co-CEO Jim Balsillie during RIM's 2Q financial conference call. This is the same Balsillie that promised native email on the Playbook 90 days after launch. This is the same Balsillie that sets failed expectations for product and software launches. One of two scenarios are evident here: 1) Balsillie is living in his own world as he is totally disconnected from RIM's (add: the world's) current state and reality OR 2) the folks that feed him information are out to lunch, a literal gang of yes people.

The bottom line is that the biggest retail/consumer holiday is around the corner with no added incentive to buy the Blackberry tablet. The device has not sold well at all and the Kindle Fire will be good to go in November (with forecasted sales to be 5 million before the end of the year). Another opportunity lost as inventory collects dust. The underlying issue for RIM is the decline in confidence from both investors and consumers. Have you seen what happened to Netflix over the last few months as they changed their service, increased their subscription fees and re-branded (then flipped back) the DVD side of their business? They lost close to one million subscribers. Take heed RIM, this can happen to you as well. If I had a dollar for every Blackberry user that told me they were switching to an iPhone over the last two weeks, I would be in position to buy a majority stake in RIM.

-Paqman