Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been said before that RIM CEO Thorsten Heins surely has one of the toughest jobs in tech. It’s a title he no doubt shares with Frank Boulben, the company’s newly minted CMO. After all, it’s Boulben who will be taking charge of the marketing for the company so badly in need of a new image. The Orange / Vodafone expat, naturally, sees very bright things ahead for Research in Motion’s future — a future that hinges almost entirely on the success of the company’s much delayed BlackBerry 10.

Like Heins, Boulben insists that all who have seen the much anticipated mobile operating system thus far have been thoroughly impressed — it’s a sentiment that we certainly can’t debate. Of course, given all of the trouble the company has run into bringing the OS to market, the number of folks who can claim membership in that exclusive club is small indeed. When the first BB10 devices finally hit early next year, Boulben’s team will be tasked with making sure that number increases significantly enough to ensure the company’s success in a field that is increasingly dominated by the likes of Android and iOS.

We spoke to Boulben about his plans to help spread the BlackBerry gospel, the time he spent as an executive at the also-troubled Lightsquared and the changes RIM must make to ensure it’s success in the future.

Continue reading The Engadget Interview: RIM CMO Frank Boulben

The Engadget Interview: RIM CMO Frank Boulben originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During today’s shareholders meeting, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins threw out terms like “streamlining,” noting his plans to help make the Canadian smartphone maker a “lean, mean hunting machine.” The plan includes limited the company’s production sites, decreasing the workforce (with earlier layoffs he referred to as “an incredibly difficult decision to make” during the meeting) and focusing on a smaller number of devices. BlackBerry 10 will launch with a touchscreen device aimed at addressing the needs of the North American market, to be followed shortly after by a full QWERTY device.

Filed under: Cellphones

Heins: RIM focusing on a ‘smaller number of devices’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM CEO Thorsten Heins did a fair bit of talking to the media following the company’s latest dose of bad news (in addition to penning his own op-ed), and he’s now gone one step further by responding to some readers’ questions for The Globe & Mail. While there’s expectedly not a whole lot in the way of surprises, he did talk a bit more about the reasons for the BlackBerry 10 delay, noting that he “could still see some of the seams,” and appears to have ruled out any further delays, saying that he is “absolutely committed” to the new timeline. He’s also assured folks that the company will continue to support BlackBerry 7 devices “into the future,” but reiterated that upgrading those devices to BB10 was out of the question. You can find all of his answers (10 of them) at the source link below.

RIM’s Thorsten Heins answers Globe & Mail readers’ questions, is ‘absolutely committed’ to new timeline originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has the unenviable task of, well, being the CEO of RIM. Still, in spite of some gloomy numbers, the exec thinks the company is on the right track. Heins told CBC Radio that, since taking over, the company has been implementing changes that are helping Research in Motion transition to BlackBerry 10, adding that “there’s nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now.” Heins told the Metro Morning radio show, “This company is not ignoring the world out there, nor is it in a death spiral,” adding, “Yes, it is very, very challenged at the moment – specifically in the U.S. market. The way I would describe it: we’re in the middle of a transition.” It’s a transition from which, Heins insists, RIM “will emerge successfully.” What’s more, Heins also has an op-ed in today’s Globe & Mail, where he mostly reiterates that stance and flatly says “don’t count BlackBerry out.” You can find it at the source link below.

RIM’s Thorsten Heins denies company’s ‘death spiral,’ predicts successful transition to BlackBerry 10 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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