TECHNOLOGY | 23.01.2012

BlackBerry maker RIM gets German CEO

 

Heins is former chief operating officer of RIM

German native Thorsten Heins has become the new president and chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM). The Canadian company hopes to regain lost ground, particularly in the American market.

 

Thorsten Heins is the new man at the helm of the iconic BlackBerry phonemaker Research in Motion (RIM). The German, who joined the Waterloo-based company in Canada in 2007 from electronics giant Siemens, replaces the two RIM founders, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.

"I've never had any problems being accepted as a German here," Heins told the dpa news agency. "Canada is a very open country, and I love to live here."

Stopping the freefall

The change at the helm of the company comes amid a series of recent economic setbacks. RIM has lost tens of billions in market value. A few years ago, the company was worth more than $70 billion (54.36 billion euros), but now only has a value of $8.9 billion.

According to senior company officials, new phone brands critical to the firm's future will be delayed until the last quarter of this year. Moreover, its PlayBook tablet - meant to be the answer to Apple's iPad - has failed to gain strong consumer support and forced the company to sell it at discount prices.

"I have complete confidence in Thorsten Heins", ex-CEO Balsillie said in a statement. "I remain a significant shareholder and of course [the whole team] will have my full support."

BlackBerry smartphones face mounting competition on the world marketHeins had been one of RIM's two chief operating officers, and before that was senior vice president for the Handheld Business Unit. In his new capacity, he will have to see to it that the company will regain a bigger slice of the smartphone market, particularly in North America, where Apple's iPhone and Google's Android sets have become major competitors.

Optimistic outlook

Nonetheless, Heins said he looks to the future with confidence.

"Later this year, we'll introduce our first devices with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system," Heins told dpa. He said he believes demand in the emerging Asian countries will be particularly strong.

Heins came out in support of the company's research and development center in Bochum, Germany, which he called a significant location for the firm. RIM opened that center in 2008 and took over a large number of engineers from Nokia, after the Finnish company had relocated to Romania amid large-scale public protests.

Author: Hardy Graupner (dpa, AP, AFP)
Editor: Andrew Bowen

 

 

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