Research In Motion Ltd’s freshman CEO insisted on Tuesday that nothing is wrong with the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and that it certainly isn’t in a “death spiral,” even as the company’s already battered stock edged toward new lows.<\/p>\n
In what appeared to be a concerted effort to win over Canadians mourning the fall of a national icon, Thorsten Heins said Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM is facing very big challenges, but would emerge successfully from its transition.<\/p>\n
“There’s nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now,” Heins said on Canadian Broadcasting Corp’s Metro Morning radio show.<\/p>\n
“I’m not talking about the company as I, kind of, took it over six months ago. I’m talking about the company (in the) state it’s in right now.”<\/p>\n
Heins took the reins at RIM in January, replacing founder Mike Lazaridis and his longtime business partner Jim Balsillie.<\/p>\n
RIM shares have halved in value since then, and Heins has hired bankers to consider options that could include a possible breakup or sale.<\/p>\n
The stock, which was worth $147 a share at the company’s peak in mid-2008, fell almost 2 percent to $7.35 on Tuesday, building on losses from last week, when the company reported a $192 million operating loss and said it would delay the launch of a make-or-break new generation of phones until next year.<\/p>\n
In an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Heins said the twice-delayed BlackBerry 10 platform would “empower people as never before” by linking them to parking meters, car computers, credit card machines and ticket counters.<\/p>\n
“We do not believe RIM is a company at the end,” he wrote. “RIM is a company at the beginning of a transition that we expect will once again change the way people communicate.”<\/p>\n
The operating loss was RIM’s first in eight years and RIM said it would fire 5,000 people, almost a third of its workforce, as it delayed the launch of the BlackBerry 10 devices.<\/p>\n
Analysts saw the delay as a devastating setback for RIM, which has fallen behind in a smartphone industry it helped pioneer with the email-focused BlackBerry. Quarterly losses could pile up while RIM rushes to build its new platform.<\/p>\n
The once-ubiquitous BlackBerry has stumbled as users seek out the oversized touchscreens and massive libraries of apps on Apple Inc’s iPhone and on a slew of devices using Google Inc’s Android software, although Heins said RIM’s subscriber base was continuing to grow.<\/p>\n
“This company is not ignoring the world out there, nor is it in a death spiral,” Heins told the CBC.<\/p>\n
“Yes, it is very, very challenged at the moment \u2014 specifically in the U.S. market. The way I would describe it: we’re in the middle of a transition,” he said. “I’m positive we will emerge successfully from that transition.”<\/p>\n
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