[njblackberry]

Thor has everything under control, from A to Zed.
</sarcasm>

Good COO.
TERRIBLE CEO.

[pseudo7]

I don't think he's done a particularly great job, but he was probably doomed to fail. BlackBerry was just too woefully behind in every meaningful category when he inherited the keys to the kingdom.

[FlashFlare11]

I don't think Heins has done a bad job, all things considered. I imagine that the company was in a mess when he was handed the reigns. Growth was slowing, the legacy OS had reached its limits, the new OS wasn't ready for the market, market share was dwindling, the company's reputation and credibility was falling, and he was facing increased pressure from the competition. If I was told that within one year, all of that had to be rectified, I don't know how I'd even begin to approach it.

I think that he's made the correct calls so far. Admittedly, to date, much of what's come to market was developed under the precious co-CEOs, so I'd think that the Z10 and Q10 were remnants of his predecessors. The delay of BlackBerry 10 to this year was a very, very tough, but good call, jn hindsight. It allowed developers more time to populate App World, as well as to give BlackBerry more time to complete the OS. Under Heins, we've seen a much better resolve to make the OS better, and a dedication and speed unlike ever before seen from the company in relation to updates and additions to the software.

Where I think Heins and his team lag a bit is awareness of the competition. Sometimes I feel that BlackBerry somewhat isolates itself into its own reality and is a bit ignorant of the competition. Instead, BlackBerry should be taking a good look at what Apple and Samsung are doing and why their products are successful, both from a product perspective and marketing perspective.

I also think that Heins is a bit too conservative with his approach to both products and marketing. What happened to the "Be Bold" attitude at BlackBerry? The most successful companies took risks with new products and technologies. In BlackBerry 10 I don't see anything truly revolutionary yet, but id like for this to change. Heins and BlackBerry should be looking into uncharted territory for both their hardware and software. This is what I'd like to see from Heins in the future.

Then again, I'm just a college student. What do I know about being the CEO of a major tech company?

Posted via CB10

[JasW]

At least these two won't be coming back (courtesy of a wag):

[bobauckland]

Heins was brought in when BB10 was pretty far along.
The credit for BB10 goes to Mike and Jim, strange as that may be for some people.
He was brought in solely to take the credit and be the face of a turnaround that was expected.

He still managed to oversee a major delay. He still managed to overpromise and underdeliver.
He's a terrible public speaker. He's an awful CEO.

And if BB10 can't run on the fantastic hardware that is the PlayBook, why exactly is everyone making fun of Android for being inefficient? Android runs on much worse hardware. With the ability to multitask more than 8 apps. And headless apps.

The problem isn't BB10 per se, it's the current batch of programmers at BlackBerry, and the decision makers guiding them.

[sinsin07]

Heins was brought in when BB10 was pretty far along.
The credit for BB10 goes to Mike and Jim, strange as that may be for some people.
He was brought in solely to take the credit and be the face of a turnaround that was expected.

"He rose through the ranks starting as Senior Vice President of BlackBerry Handheld Business Unit; Chief Operating Officer of Product Engineering; and finally Chief Operating Officer of Product and Sales since July 2011."

He was part of the problem all along. Meet Mr. "Battery Pull".

[BBThemes]

Heins was brought in when BB10 was pretty far along.

here`s a little lesson for ya in Heins`s history at BlackBerry
Joined BlackBerry in 2007 as SVP of the handheld business unit, so he`s had his hands in devices since 2007 (we`re talking storms here to be clear)
Then went on to be Chief Operating Officer of product engineering - again, a hand in devices still, also COO`s are part fo the team that need to `execute`.
then in July 2011 he became COO of product and sales. show me a sales graph from july 2011 onwards, not saying its all him, but it ent a pretty sight.
Then he became CEO in Jan 2011(obviously)

So lets not be making out like he was dropped in at the deep end with no knowledge or culpability for mistakes of the past, we have no idea what hardware he was involved in, coulda been the storm, could been the tour, coulda been the bold, but either way he`s been at BlackBerry an awful long time, and in very high up posts.

[kraschute]

I don't understand what you mean. Do you mean that he should have put BB10 on the Playbook even though it would have been an awful user experience, or did he spit in some other way?

Ah please finally forget thia 2GB BS!

[kraschute]

Heins was brought in when BB10 was pretty far along.
The credit for BB10 goes to Mike and Jim, strange as that may be for some people.
He was brought in solely to take the credit and be the face of a turnaround that was expected.

He still managed to oversee a major delay. He still managed to overpromise and underdeliver.
He's a terrible public speaker. He's an awful CEO.

And if BB10 can't run on the fantastic hardware that is the PlayBook, why exactly is everyone making fun of Android for being inefficient? Android runs on much worse hardware. With the ability to multitask more than 8 apps. And headless apps.

The problem isn't BB10 per se, it's the current batch of programmers at BlackBerry, and the decision makers guiding them.

Absolutely! And a 3rd problem are BBRY fans who believe every nonsense they're told....but good arguments as yours do not help in this case

[BBThemes]

"He rose through the ranks starting as Senior Vice President of BlackBerry Handheld Business Unit; Chief Operating Officer of Product Engineering; and finally Chief Operating Officer of Product and Sales since July 2011."

He was part of the problem all along. Meet Mr. "Battery Pull".

lol you typed quicker than me, I was looking at siemens history in 2007 too when he left there as CEO. that's all im saying on that subject though.

[RubberChicken76]

here`s a little lesson for ya in Heins`s history at BlackBerry
Joined BlackBerry in 2007 as SVP of the handheld business unit, so he`s had his hands in devices since 2007 (we`re talking storms here to be clear)
Then went on to be Chief Operating Officer of product engineering - again, a hand in devices still, also COO`s are part fo the team that need to `execute`.
then in July 2011 he became COO of product and sales. show me a sales graph from july 2011 onwards, not saying its all him, but it ent a pretty sight.
Then he became CEO in Jan 2011(obviously)

So lets not be making out like he was dropped in at the deep end with no knowledge or culpability for mistakes of the past, we have no idea what hardware he was involved in, coulda been the storm, could been the tour, coulda been the bold, but either way he`s been at BlackBerry an awful long time, and in very high up posts.

No, but it's also important to remember that he followed someone else's direction instead of being the guy to direct


Clearly he didn't agree with some processes people and ways of doing business as he fired almost all of Mike and Jims senior guys


Posted via CB10

[BBThemes]

Clearly he didn't agree with some processes people and ways of doing business as he fired almost all of Mike and Jims senior guys

so he fired the people he thought were the problem, yet the problems are still there. the constant in both scenarios? Him.

[bdguru]

I think Heins has done a good job. I think BlackBerry waited too long to bring about a new OS. As a result Android. And iPhone passed them by. The marketing team needs a change. Heins should not have promised and under delivered on the PlayBook.

[john6504]

I think Heins doing fine. But some of the marketing people should go:
Delusion Blackberry offers the BB 9720 as the perfect upgrade from &ldquo;entry-level Windows Phones&rdquo; | WMPoweruser

[MartyMcfly]

I think Heins has done a good job. I think BlackBerry waited too long to bring about a new OS. As a result Android. And iPhone passed them by. The marketing team needs a change. Heins should not have promised and under delivered on the PlayBook.

He also under delivered on the z10.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

[mithrazor]

Things weren't going to get better overnight.

Heins even mentioned that. Heins also said that things were much worse looking from the CEO position than he originally thought. 2012 was mostly management and organizational changes.

It's only been a year, but so far lets look at what he's done.

He's made the company lean and still in the green. With still 3 billion in the bank to last for as long as possible. There are going to be 3 major releases of BB10 under him. In a SINGLE year. He's got the ball rolling. The updates are coming quick.

10.0 to 10.2 is a big change. Most people (ie Apple), would have to wait until next year to get the number of features implemented in 10.1 and 10.2.

He's still a work in progress as I see it.

He's better than the previous CEOs that's for sure. He has an actual plan to get this company back. Lets see where he takes us with the Z30.

[bobauckland]

When i said brought in i meant as ceo.
He was made the face of the rebranded BlackBerry and sold as a complete difference when it was more of the same.

He has overseen poor design and functional choices in hardware, poor marketing, delays, and a weak app ecosystem.

As a BlackBerry fan, I'd be most concerned about his decision to completely kill all the service revenue BlackBerry could depend on, and move to depending only on hardware sales, then overpricing the hardware so it depreciates quickly.
That's pretty close to suicide for me.
It will accelerate burning through cash revenues, there's no reason to have alienated so many willing paying service users.

Posted via CB10

[BBThemes]

It's only been a year, but so far lets look at what he's done.

He's made the company lean and still in the green. With still 3 billion in the bank to last for as long as possible. There are going to be 3 major releases of BB10 under him. In a SINGLE year. He's got the ball rolling. The updates are coming quick.

its actually been over a year and a half. Jan 2012. they aren't posting earnings profits, so they are posting losses, makes the financial side hard to see as awesome. How have sales gone under his CEO term? how have subscriber numbers gone? how did the `outselling iphone` and `sold out in stores` turn out in real terms for the Z10?

How has he been handling the media over the last few months?

these are all important things that he`s under par on. `give him time` is great, but its not really a luxury they have, hence the `strategic options` committee and the entire reason we are having this conversation right now

[RubberChicken76]

so he fired the people he thought were the problem, yet the problems are still there. the constant in both scenarios? Him.

Every single solitairy last problem? Nothing has improved at all or gotten better in the slightest?!

Such melodrama!

[4ron]

A company can have the best product in the industry but if the consumer message isn't clear and we'll defined it's going to have a tough time meeting and beating the competition. Perception is reality. BlackBerry is perceived as being outdated and out of touch. And that's a shame!

I love my Z10!

Posted via CB10

[BBThemes]

Every single solitairy last problem? Nothing has improved at all or gotten better in the slightest?!

Such melodrama!

nope, I didn't say every single solitary problem was still there, that really would of been melodramatic, I`ll ask you this now, what has improved as a tangible item for investors between when he took over and now?

lets look at some basic items, did they post a profit or loss last Quarter? Loss
Has the share price risen or fallen from what it was in Jan 2012 when he took over? Dropped (low point of Jan 2012 was $15
Have sales increased or decreased? Decreased
Have subscriber numbers risen or fallen? Fallen
Has market share risen or fallen? Fallen
Has advertising improved? Nope
Has BlackBerry learnt to control the media message? Nope
Has BlackBerry fixed its execution issues? Nope
Have they released a OS that didn't have any major bugs? Nope (reboots, sms loss etc)
Has he followed suit of the co-CEO`s before him and made cheques the business cant cash? Yes. BB10 for PlayBook and the `sold out, way past expectations BB10 sales`
Is the Business in a safe position to go it alone? Nope
Has he laid off lots of employees? Yes

That's a big enough list to be getting on with I guess, maybe I`ll add if I think of more, but for now we`ll leave it with those, as they are facts and not just theory or happenstance.

[raggdoll]

Things weren't going to get better overnight.

Heins even mentioned that. Heins also said that things were much worse looking from the CEO position than he originally thought. 2012 was mostly management and organizational changes.

It's only been a year, but so far lets look at what he's done.

He's made the company lean and still in the green. With still 3 billion in the bank to last for as long as possible. There are going to be 3 major releases of BB10 under him. In a SINGLE year. He's got the ball rolling. The updates are coming quick.

10.0 to 10.2 is a big change. Most people (ie Apple), would have to wait until next year to get the number of features implemented in 10.1 and 10.2.

He's still a work in progress as I see it.

He's better than the previous CEOs that's for sure. He has an actual plan to get this company back. Lets see where he takes us with the Z30.

Ah yes, he even mentioned that LOL

[R Field]

OP you lost me when you started with the Harry Potter references.

CB10- BlackBerry Z10

[Rickroller]

Has advertising improved? Nope

To be fair.. They did finally put out a Super bowl commercial. Remember it? Ya..me neither

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[BBThemes]

To be fair.. They did finally put out a Super bowl commercial. Remember it? Ya..me neither

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

lol ya, although the main issue, is the lack of advertising, quality is only important if your using it I guess. for example we still see many iphone adverts even now when the first year is almost up, we are several months into the launch of the Z10 and Q10 and we see nothing. paints a picture doesn't it lol