Around the Net
RIM Cleans House On Poor Sales
- Reuters, Friday, March 30, 2012 12:15 PM
Heads are rolling at RIM in the wake of a quarterly net loss, and the Blackberry maker’s first slump in shipments since 2006. Former co-CEO and the company’s current director Jim Balsillie, is out. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins -- who recently took over from Balsillie and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis -- said he was still focused on a turnaround, which might now include "strategic opportunities" such as partnerships, and joint-venture licensing.
As for selling the company outright, Balsillie said: "We would consider it, but it is not the main direction we are pursuing right now,” Reuters reports. Also out is David Yach, RIM's top software architect, who is being replaced by Dan Dodge -- former head of QNX Software, which RIM bought in 2010. “In addition, Jim Rowan also left as chief operating officer and RIM is looking for his replacement,” Reuters writes.
Meanwhile, “it is still searching for a chief marketing officer to lead its promotional efforts.” For the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 3, RIM sad it shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones -- down 21% quarter-over-quarter. RIM sold more than 500,000 PlayBooks in the fourth quarter -- “a number inflated by deep discounts offered to boost sales of the product.”
