During the roughly 40-minute call, Heins mostly defended RIM and its products. Heins, who joined RIM four years ago and served as senior vice president of the BlackBerry handheld business and then COO (a role he assumed last summer), appears to believe most of the company's troubles revolve around marketing. In fact, he's very focused on the issue. "I want to focus more on consumer/consumer marketing. That is a major change for us," said Heins. He's now actively looking for a chief marketing officer, someone who can strengthen communication to RIM's markets and customer base "but also to listen."
"My view on RIM," said Heins, "is a very, very clear view." He said he has no plans to split up RIM's hardware and software businesses. "I've been in a device-only business. It's a cut-throat price and cost business." RIM's strength, Heins said, comes from its integrated solutions, including the network, enterprise services, devices and the "fantastic ecosystem." The goal, instead, is to build on this platform and "not in any way split that up into separate businesses."
Heins was also complimentary about the new Blackberry OS 10 and PlayBook OS 2.0. The latter was shown off during CES where it got mostly positive buzz. Heins hinted that the latter OS is a platform that could extend beyond the company's tablet. "Playbook is not a tablet only. It’s a manifestation of a mobile computing platform," said Heins.
So if RIM's products and services are strong, where has the company stumbled? Process and execution. The German-born Heins said he’ll introduce "rigid" process and program management. Heins said that innovating while developing a product, as supposed to defining the product and then executing its production and delivery "needs to stop."
Where does RIM go from here? Heins promises that technology will remain at its core and that he wants to "scale this company up."