Did Mike and Jim load the bases for Thor?

[frankzaman]

What I am seeing this last few weeks leads me to believe that their stepping down was part of massive US comeback strategy. I'm sure that they would have loved to stay on until BB10 was released but after all the bad press in the US from last year they must have realized that the baggage they carried as CEO's would overshadow anything that they did right this year. Mike and Jim unfortunately lost the confidence of many in the US: analysts, consumers, enterprise customers, and trying to build that back as CEO's would have taken resources away from building the brand. The Blackberry brand, however, was bruised but not out and I think that they realized they had to step aside and save it.

So I propose that they set everything up to make Thor look like the comeback kid and then they exited right with all of the negative baggage just before the fireworks. Let's put the latest events in context.

Oct - OS 2.0 gets delayed - bad
Dec - playbook charge off and lower Q4 handset guidance - Bad (but clears the deck and sets expectations low)
Dec - agressive playbook pricing starts - playbook sells out across NA - Good
Jan - Playbook OS 2.0 Surprises positively at CES - Good
Jan - CEO's step aside after a year in which they were criticized for their sloppy execution - Good (The ultimate way to acknowledge and be accountable for your mistakes)
Jan - New CEO steps in who vows "flawless execution" and to "rock and roll this", reaches out to the Crackberry community - Good
FEB - Playbook 2.0 "completes" the device and drives more sales. Bridge upgrade turning your phone into a bluetooth keyboard and mouse drive OS7 device sales - Good
FEB - With the public perception of playbook turning, a massive US promo kicks in with Playbook as its centerpiece, aggressive pricing on Playbooks continue, Playbook/OS7 deals start showing up,
MARCH - earnings call - RIM surprises with high Playbook sales, analylsts criticizing them for giving playbooks away are drowned out by the fact that they now have a respectable and growing userbase as a launching pad for BB10
APRIL - Just as consumers start getting excited about playbook Mobile Fusion goes live and people start bugging their IT staff to get it so they can use their playbooks in a secure work environment - Very good
SPRING - Casades (UI framework for playbook/BB10) is released.
BB10 devices hit!

The NHLPA playbook promo, the Q'viva sponsorship, Thor's acknowledgement of the US problem and plans for massive promo's, the tight scheduled of positive events above...I think Jim and Mike stepped aside for team blackberry. Call me crazy if you want, but if it works it could turn out to be their most brilliant move yet.

[4one1]

Originally Posted by frankzaman

What I am seeing this last few weeks leads me to believe that their stepping down was part of massive US comeback strategy. I'm sure that they would have loved to stay on until BB10 was released but after all the bad press in the US from last year they must have realized that the baggage they carried as CEO's would overshadow anything that they did right this year. Mike and Jim unfortunately lost the confidence of many in the US: analysts, consumers, enterprise customers, and trying to build that back as CEO's would have taken resources away from building the brand. The Blackberry brand, however, was bruised but not out and I think that they realized they had to step aside and save it.

So I propose that they set everything up to make Thor look like the comeback kid and then they exited right with all of the negative baggage just before the fireworks. Let's put the latest events in context.

Oct - OS 2.0 gets delayed - bad
Dec - playbook charge off and lower Q4 handset guidance - Bad (but clears the deck and sets expectations low)
Dec - agressive playbook pricing starts - playbook sells out across NA - Good
Jan - Playbook OS 2.0 Surprises positively at CES - Good
Jan - CEO's step aside after a year in which they were criticized for their sloppy execution - Good (The ultimate way to acknowledge and be accountable for your mistakes)
Jan - New CEO steps in who vows "flawless execution" and to "rock and roll this", reaches out to the Crackberry community - Good
FEB - Playbook 2.0 "completes" the device and drives more sales. Bridge upgrade turning your phone into a bluetooth keyboard and mouse drive OS7 device sales - Good
FEB - With the public perception of playbook turning, a massive US promo kicks in with Playbook as its centerpiece, aggressive pricing on Playbooks continue, Playbook/OS7 deals start showing up,
MARCH - earnings call - RIM surprises with high Playbook sales, analylsts criticizing them for giving playbooks away are drowned out by the fact that they now have a respectable and growing userbase as a launching pad for BB10
APRIL - Just as consumers start getting excited about playbook Mobile Fusion goes live and people start bugging their IT staff to get it so they can use their playbooks in a secure work environment - Very good
SPRING - Casades (UI framework for playbook/BB10) is released.
BB10 devices hit!

The NHLPA playbook promo, the Q'viva sponsorship, Thor's acknowledgement of the US problem and plans for massive promo's, the tight scheduled of positive events above...I think Jim and Mike stepped aside for team blackberry. Call me crazy if you want, but if it works it could turn out to be their most brilliant move yet.

how awesome would it be if they comeback like apple in '07

in the meantime I an going to be tapping on "check for update" on my playbook every 30 seconds

[stevepar]

+1 well said!! Long live the RIMPire! My almost ten month old PlayBook is getting very excited :-)

[playbookster]

All they need to top it off is John Hamm voiced tv commercials. His voice could sell anything haha

[Dapper37]

Yes I'v thought from the start that they were setting up for the turn around. The CEO change was planed in advace and Mike and Jim took the required heat before exit. Witch inturn gives the come back to Thor. More importantly BlackBerry!

[Superfly_FR]

I loved your chronology (at least the end ), but for the strategy, I guess they may have done another choice ... this would have been a suicide strategy, absolutely unnecessary at the time they were supposed to plan it.

Nice story, anyway !

[Thunderbuck]

I think you're dead on. I still think the thrashing stopped back in October and that's when they got back to executing. Your timeline fits that perfectly.

[anthogag]

Lol Thor...

[Thunderbuck]

Originally Posted by anthogag

Lol Thor...

Lol... I know. When I saw "Thor" it made me think of that Playbook TV ad that opened with a clip from the movie...

But, "Thor", "Thorstein", it works for me

[FlashFlare11]

I never thought of it that way. But ever since Thorsten became CEO, there's been a lot of news coming from RIM (most of it good news) which is awesome!

If Mike and Jim did plan to take all the criticism before handing the reigns to Thorsten, then that's very noble of them, and incredibly smart. It really shouldn't come as a surprise, though. They're geniuses, both of them. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have our beloved BlackBerries and it wouldn't be the amazing platform that we love today. Sure, the put up with a lot of criticism in the last few months of their leadership, but history will see them as pioneers who brought the world into the smartphone age. I have the utmost respect and gratitude for Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Balsillie.

Here's to a year that will only begin the new age of the RIMpire!