Don't think Thorsten Heins hasn't heard the criticism. The newly-minted Research In Motion CEO says he's keenly aware that some shareholders were disappointed the company went with an insider.
In an interview with Kitchener-Waterloo's 570News that aired Thursday, Heins says none of it is easy to hear — or fair.
"There's a lot of comments about RIM out there that are really just perception, and a lot of that perception doesn't match reality," he says. "This is a sound company. We have $1.5 billion in cash in the bank, we're profitable every quarter, and we're growing globally. So I think my employees and the company don't deserve this kind of feedback. But it is what it is, and we will prove to the public that the best response is performance."
Heins and the RIM reality
Despite the firestorm surrounding this week's announcement, Heins says RIM headquarters is far from crisis central.
"I have a fantastic team. This company is not spiralling down," he says. "We have challenges in the market. I'm not in denial of this."
In Monday's analyst call, he took pains to explain how it's no longer business-as-usual for RIM staff.
"I plan to empower employees to take appropriate risks, make decisions and to be accountable for their actions," he said. "I will make sure employees have the tools and resources they need to be successful. When they succeed as individuals, we succeed as a company."
PlayBook OS 2.0 to be RIM's first big test
The company's first big test under its new leadership will be the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 launch. Heins admits the original launch of the tablet wasn't all it could be. Consumers and enterprise buyers shied away, largely thanks to incomplete software that lacked native support for key applications like email, messaging, scheduling and contact management — a misstep for a company that not long ago was renowned for engineering elegance. Heins says this software update will change everything.
"The PlayBook at launch was not what we expected," he says. "We were eager to show the world how great the new platform would work. In hindsight, yes, you can say we were over-aspirational but that's water under the bridge."
Heins says version 2.0 of the software will unleash the device's potential and set the stage for a broader mobility push.
"With PlayBook 2.0, we truly believe we can prove how great that platform is and how well that will work, and we'll take it from there," he says. "We're not in this for the short-term; we're in this for the long-term."
Heins says the company sees PlayBook as more than just a tablet — it aims to create a new space it calls mobile computing — and has no intention of backing away from it despite its challenges to-date. Until PlayBook OS 2.0 and BlackBerry 10 ship, however, currently available devices have to carry the load.
"BlackBerry 7 and BBM continue to be powerful drivers in markets around the world," RIM said in a statement released to Yahoo! Finance Canada, "and RIM is implementing a number of marketing and promotional programs to keep this momentum going."
These include an ongoing rollout of its new Be Bold campaign, and the search for a new chief marketing officer.
RIM's board challenges
The challenges continue at the board level, as well, thanks to its new size - up to 11 seats - its new board chair, Barbard Stymiest, and the addition of one director who could potentially keep Mr. Heins up at night. Prem Watsa is President and CEO of Fairfax Financial, RIM's fourth-largest institutional investor. He's widely known for turning around struggling companies, and is seen as an activist-investor who will push for transformation. Mr. Heins shrugs off the potential for fireworks.
"I love an interesting dynamic," he says. "Everything else is boring, right? We have a very active board, and I like that. It's a strong board, and Prem coming to the board will even make us stronger. I feel good about this, and will take every support I can get."
Two other not-so-new faces also raised eyebrows: both Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis retained their respective seats on the board, while Mr. Lazaridis is also vice chair and innovation committee lead. Heins is emphatic that the continued presence of the ex-CEOs on the board won't hold him back in the least.
"Why should it be difficult? The roles and mandates are very clear," he says. "I've worked well with both gentlemen in the past. I think they're more than happy to hand over the reins right now."
After the headline-grabbing news of Mr. Heins's new job fades into history, the only thing that will matter is product. On that front, he says he understands that RIM needs to change its somewhat dated image because consumers aren't the only ones who want their mobile technology to look cool.
"Right now, enterprise also wants sexy devices," he says. "It's kind of converging, actually, from a device perspective, so we need excellent industrial design, and objects of desire. Then you put security based on BlackBerry software on top of that."
Carmi Levy is a London, Ont.-based independent technology analyst and journalist. The opinions expressed are his own. carmilevy@yahoo.ca
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