The Smartphone Wars are brutal. RIM co-CEOs now out.
Submitted by brian s hall on 22 January, 2012 - 21:27
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Via Wall Street Journal:
After 20 years together at the helm of Research In Motion Ltd., Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the company's co-chief executives, said they planned to turn over the top job early Monday to a little-known company insider as part of a board and management shuffle.
For months, investors have clamored for a significant strategic overhaul, fresh leadership or a sale of the company as the BlackBerry maker struggled to stay competitive with rivals Apple Inc. and Google Inc. amid operational blunders and a tumbling share price. The surprise exit of Messrs. Balsillie and Lazaridis is… ($ subscription required)
What does this mean?
Right now, I can't say. Was it merely institutional investor pressure? As long as the co-founder/co-CEOs remained in charge -- and they were fully in charge of the company and the board -- the stock was going nowhere.
We don't have enough information yet on how discussions with potential buyers have gone. Certainly, any new buyer would not keep those two men in their current leadership positions.
No doubt, insiders throughout RIM had lost faith in the ability of the co-CEOs to lead the company through this vicious phase of the smartphone wars. Even that new new Blackberry OS won't likely be ready this year. And if it is, it won't be ready.
Shit, at this point, we even have to ask if their abrupt exit makes it easier for the co-CEOs to cash out on what they know is a sinking ship.
We'll have enough information soon enough. Right now, be thankful you are not leading a company into the frontlines of the smartphone wars. Steve Jobs is dead. The RIM co-CEOs are out. Steve Ballmer, despite what others are telling you, will be gone by no later than next year given that he's utterly failed to have his troops ready for battle. Nokia has been reduced to a parasite living off Microsoft's meager Windows Phone ecosystem.
Larry Page misses Google's numbers and despite pouring tens of billions into Android, still has almost nothing to show for it.
This is not a market for the weak or the uncertain or the lost.
UPDATE: From CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46094976/