Thorsten Heins replaces Lazaridis and Balsillie as RIM's new CEO

23 January, 2012

The reign of the double CEO's at RIM has come to an end as Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have just stepped down from their position as co-CEO and let Thorsten Heins take control of the helm.

Heins, who has been working with the company for four years now and who was at Siemens prior to this for twenty years, will be replacing Lazaridis and Balsillie, who have taken the position of vice chairman of the board and director of the board, respectively. Meanwhile, Barbara Stymiest has replaced them as chairwoman of RIM's board.

Speaking in a interview, Heins seems optimistic about his company's success. He thinks that the previous two CEOs have taken the company to "total new heights" but understands that the journey is far from over and that if they continue to do well what they're doing he sees the company make it to the top three. He also feels that innovation is at the core of RIM but that they need to get "better at execution".

He also is excited about the new BlackBerry 10 platform, which should be out by the end of the year, and he "can't wait to see it". Heins is proud of the fact that they are managing to create an entirely new platform in just eighteen months. RIM might even look at licensing BB 10 if it finds wide appeal. He also said that the PlayBook OS 2 is coming very soon.

It remains to be seen how Heins handles the company, which has been on a downward spiral since the last couple of years. The company is placing large bets on their new CEO and especially the upcoming BlackBerry OS 10 platform. If either of these fail to perform, RIM could be in very serious trouble.