RIM appears to be far from down and out as its new CEO refuses to call it quits. During today’s shareholders meeting, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins revealed more of 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 — which he says was “an incredibly difficult decision to make” — and focusing on a releasing a smaller number of devices, which should help boost the marketing efforts for each of those devices. This could also keep updates flowing more smoothly as RIM would have fewer devices they’d have to push updates to.
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 that should alleviate any concerns by longtime BlackBerry aficionados that the company may be turning its back on them.
On a side note, Heins was also elected to the RIM Board alongside Mike Lazaridis during the meeting, which leaves 10 directors to work together to push RIM forward. The question is, will they be successful?