[divakar]

Ex-BlackBerry CEO Heins: 'I have no regrets' (Q&A) - CNET

Gautham

[early2bed]

Well, he certainly emphasizes that everything that has been released, thus far, are his projects up to and including the Passport.

[divakar]

Interesting last line.. some of us would like to know under whose rein the idea for the Passport was conceived...

Regards,

Gautham

[Playbook007]

I agree with Heins somewhat. He did have the company at a bad time. It seems his software and hardware achievements were spot on. His bringing them to market was an epic fail.

Posted via CB10

[serbanescu]

Well, given the fact that he was in charge when the Passport development started, Heins can show again his face without regrets

[donnation]

I wouldn't have regrets either if I was paid $50 million just to walk away.

[birdman_38]

I wouldn't have regrets either if I was paid $50 million just to walk away.

I believe they orchestrated his exit in a way that he wouldn't be entitled to all of that. But yeah, I hear ya.

[Ment]

Heins was blamed for more than he was responsible for but given the golden parachutes execs of major corporations get I'm not feeling too sorry for him.

[CodeMole]

A cool $22 million pay off. I wouldn't have any regrets either...

Z10 STL100-2 / 10.3.1.1151

[Raestloz]

I believe Heins when he says that he developed Passport. R&D takes a lot of time, especially for something new like keyboard touchpad. I don't think one year is enough to finish that

Z10 STL100-1/10.2.1.3442

[gvs1341]

I wouldn't have regrets either if I was paid $50 million just to walk away.

Interesting comment.

More interesting name - donnation ;-)

But anyway, it's about time people, ahem - grow up (!) and stop this $$$ lament. TH didn't pinch your savings account!!!

Like haven't all these commentators heard about Job/ Service/ Employment Contract? Or haven't signed one ever?

Sorry for the offtopic rant.

CB10 @ Q5

[donnation]

Interesting comment.

More interesting name - donnation ;-)

But anyway, it's about time people, ahem - grow up (!) and stop this $$$ lament. TH didn't pinch your savings account!!!

Like haven't all these commentators heard about Job/ Service/ Employment Contract? Or haven't signed one ever?

Sorry for the offtopic rant.

CB10 @ Q5

Lol what are you even talking about. A its Donnation, not Donation, and B your rant has nothing to do with anything and you have no idea what you are talking about.

[gvs1341]

Lol what are you even talking about. A its Donnation, not Donation, and B your rant has nothing to do with anything and you have no idea what you are talking about.

LoL indeed!

Wouldn't want to drag an offtopic thing but still:

(a) I got "your" spellings right in my first comment.

(b) You wrote the $50M thing, I replied to that.

(c) It was a rant. I did write that too ;-)

Ciao!!!

CB10 @ Q5

[NaijaBerry]

I wouldn't have regrets either if I was paid $50 million just to walk away.

I was going to say the same thing, of course you have no regrets that buck is passed right to BlackBerry isn't it, I'm sure they wouldn't share his sentiments. Truth is there were serious issues with timing, it doesn't matter how ingenious the plans were if they're poorly executed then its a big fail! I like the fact that Chen took his time with the PassPort, right off the bat its been 5 star reviews, except for the unlucky few. I'm quite sure the classic would do well as well.

Amazon reviews, mostly verified purchases are still high at over 300 reviews, mine is about to go in there!

[Blacklatino]

JMO. I never thought Heins was a bad guy.....and I'm sure he received a very nice departure check. But, trying to launch BB10 (from necessary delays by the former CEOs), poor marketing strategy- including grass-roots/word of mouth concept (works well when consumers are willing to listen to another), and the infamous iPhone bravado statements didn't help when most were having iPhones and Androids pushed at them. Like others, I speak from personal experience at five different stores trying to sell me devices I already own. But, as CEO, you're either on the throne when things go well(ie. sales)........or sinking in the septic tank when they're really bad. Back then, too busy trying to keep the doors open and the lights on. So, I can see Chen moving forward with uninitiated projects.

[Prem WatsApp]

As a COO turned CEO, he might have assessed himself against this, LOL... :-)

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/...he-better-fit/



�   Telstra + Classic, Optus + PP, AT&T + PP , Verizon + Classic... why the mix, Mr. Fix?   �

[Maxxxpower]

I think Heins is not responsible for the fact that BB10 flopped so far. Most mistakes that caused Blackberrys downward spiral werde made when Lazaridis and Balsillie were still in charge
A) Development on a QNX OS Blackberry as an iPhone/Android competitor started too late.
B) Playbook and BB Tablet OS delayed OS7 and therefore OS10 (not Heins decision)
C) Heins already pushed the launch of BB10 back as it was not ready. In retrospect, it should have launched with 10.2.1 in January 2014. Nobody knows whether this further delay would have been possible for him.
All I can say is that no other CEO would have been successful in launching an unfinished, half-baked OS as BB10 was in 2013.
D) It was a clear goal from RIM to launch an OS that was orientend to consumers AND business, not a business-only OS.
E) The devices he developed were much more competitive than the outdated and overpriced hardware (Classic,Z3) Chen is delivering nowadays.

[Grafic111]

Interesting last line.. some of us would like to know under whose rein the idea for the Passport was conceived...

Regards,

Gautham

Chen never said it was his idea and acknowledged that it was under the Heins regime. He said once he only takes credit for not dropping it.

Q10 | SQN100-3 | CIRCA 2013

[Old_Mil]

PlayBook.

Posted via CB10

[Maxxxpower]

Heins is not responsible that the hardware of the Playbook was not capable of running BB10.

[TGR1]

A terrible pity one doesn't ever read/see one of these things where the individual starts bawling and snorting snot out the nose while wailing, "I was a complete f-up! I'm so soooooory!"

Heins wasn't CEO material but I get the impression that wasn't what the board wanted then anyway. I think he may have not been quite the caretaker either, though.

It's his roles as COO (product engineering, then product and sales) that I wonder whether he shouldn't express some regrets about. The Passport is ok and certainly discussion worthy but ultimately I would say it wasn't really the right product either. And I would argue sales really suffered under his watch. But then again, a lot of things were going wrong at the company then and he might have had very little to work with.

And a little public lashing is good for those dudes. Keeps them a wee bit honest in the next job they invariably land.

[Prem WatsApp]

.... The Passport is ok and certainly discussion worthy but ultimately I would say it wasn't really the right product either. And I would argue sales really suffered under his watch. But then again, a lot of things were going wrong at the company then and he might have had very little to work with.
...

The Passport is absolutely awesome for my use, and I wouldn't wanna miss it anymore.

Regarding the CEO question, a more energetic public speaker would have been helpful. And the timing of the product wasn't quite right, unfinished, too late, but that has been said many times before. Problems is, BlackBerry would have needed the (more than half a year of actual) user feedback that made 10.0 into 10.2/10.2.1...

Wanna see an unfinished product for a laugh?



Big Rigs -
the probably worst and most unfinished game ever released... :-)))


�   Telstra + Classic, Optus + PP, AT&T + PP , Verizon + Classic... why the mix, Mr. Fix?   �

[darkehawke]

Heins is not responsible that the hardware of the Playbook was not capable of running BB10.

He made the promise that the PlayBook would get bb10.
As soon as he said that he killed the PlayBook. Why would devs make apps that they'd have to port later.
A lot of devs waited for the PlayBook to get bb10 and it never came. By that time the PlayBook was dead in the water.
Complete balls up. Also he said it needed 2gb of ram. The z5 proves otherwise.
Hardware excuse was a cop out

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

[TheAuthority]

Thorsten Heins was right about BlackBerry 10 being the best mobile computing os in the world.

[Maxxxpower]

He made the promise that the PlayBook would get bb10.
As soon as he said that he killed the PlayBook. Why would devs make apps that they'd have to port later.
A lot of devs waited for the PlayBook to get bb10 and it never came. By that time the PlayBook was dead in the water.
Complete balls up. Also he said it needed 2gb of ram. The z5 proves otherwise.
Hardware excuse was a cop out

a) The promise has already been made by Lazaridis and Balsillie
b) You forget to mention the slow OMAP 4430 CPU and the 1024x600 resolution as harwdare limits
c) Z5 (never released) and Z3 both have 1.5GB RAM and a much faster SoC than Playbook