[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Who was in more of a jam when they began? Thorsten Heins or John Chen (interim).

[BoldPreza]

Chen. Make no mistake what Heins inherited was a disaster that would break a lot of people.

But Heins had stronger financials and a clear idea to the general public if what direction the company was going in.

They also still had some positive momentum in other world markets.

Chen has none of that along with baggage from the inability to sell the company because institutional investors, you know those guys that are supposed to look long term and be able to see a good deal, couldn't see any value.

Posted via CB10

[jason9900]

I don't understand why Chen is an interim CEO, his track record is amazing

Posted via CB10

[blackmoe]

Heins had to get BB10 out as well as try and get the company on track whereas Chens job is pretty clear cut with no distractions.

[anon(4086706)]

I don't understand why Chen is an interim CEO, his track record is amazing

Posted via CB10

You do remember Jobs was an Interim CEO when Apple bought? NeXT? He became permanent due to his performance

I'm not saying he will be the "Jobs" of BlackBerry, but let's just see what will he do.

Z30 | Z30STA100-2/10.2.0.1791 | Globe PH

[willowbeast]

Chen. Hope he has a huge shovel!

Posted via CB10

[jafrul]

Chen.
Way much difficult now.
Of course continuing from current footprint/blueprint should be a breeze in the park.
But continuing from an almost disaster company, he must do a lot of things to turn this ship around.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

By most people's admittance so far BlackBerry is in worse shape now then before BB10

[kbz1960]

By most people's admittance so far BlackBerry is in worse shape now then before BB10

I don't think that can be accurate. No one knows where they would be now if they stuck with legacy. They may already be sold and dead by now.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

I don't think that can be accurate. No one knows where they would be now if they stuck with legacy. They may already be sold and dead by now.

I'm talking about time frame

[amazinglygraceless]

Chen has the tougher job in my opinion. When Mr. Heins started he was facing some extreme challenges but had a still mostly loyal user base that really wanted him to succeed and his appointment was greeted with a great deal optimism. Most accounts were that he was the right man at the right time and that with the coming devices and "from the ground up OS...BB10" he had a good platform to reverse BBRY's fortunes.

Mr Chen on the other hand will have to reverse the missteps of the last three CEO's, combat a huge amount of negative perception by the media and end users alike, raise brand awareness and get BBRY back to some semblance of relevance. I do not envy this man, but he seems up to the task.

[sixpacker]

Heins had to get BB10 out as well as try and get the company on track whereas Chens job is pretty clear cut with no distractions.

Clear cut? No-one has a clue what their strategy is, including the Board of directors.

[Blackberry_boffin]

They are nearly equally bad but not so much.
TH had to release BB10, overhaul its basic functionality, move a whole firm from one OS to another (totally unrelated OSes mind) whilst maintaining profitability. People this has a series of internal and external milestones that are very hard to nail. In case you have forgetten, BB10 had uncommonly few bugs for a Version 1.0.
Where he failed was in getting the wrong people to market it and forgetting that the first lot (Z10, Q10 and Q5) were never going to be about margins but seeding BB10 to grow the ecosystem. IMO that was a catastrophic oversight, one that saw people who had promised them apps pull out.
If he had concentrated on shifting a lot of units initially into people's hands he would have been fine. Can you remember how eager people wanted to hear how many BB10 devices were shifted in the first quarter of release? And the vitriol that followed when those numbers were not Apple-sque? That is the precise time flyby analysts declared RIM dead.
Now for John; the platform is built and more or less matches the competition in functionality. There is only one thing to do dispel misconceptions about BB10 and do cleverer marketing. For heaven's sake even BBM is cross-platform now and alive and Channels are about to come out of Beta and perhaps provide another revenue stream.
I think TH had it tougher.

[Blackberry_boffin]

- double post sorry -

[Poirots Progeny]

I agree with the posters above: Chen.

BlackBerry is in worse shape since Heins took the reins. Won't go into the reasons why (there are many) but that is the case.

The next earnings call is going to be tough - especially for Chen.

Posted via CB10

[sinsin07]

Thor was the Hail Mary to Mike and Jim. JC is the Hail Mary to Thor.

Sure is a lot of Hail Marys being thrown and no touch down.

[Poirots Progeny]

Thor was the Hail Mary to Mike and Jim. JC is the Hail Mary to Thor.

Sure is a lot of Hail Marys being thrown and no touch down.

Lol. Good joke!

Posted via CB10

[njblackberry]

There are much lower expectations for Chen.

Herr Heins - BlackBerry was still living the lie that BB10 was going to save the company and that the company was still doing very well and was going to recover just fine. And that they had an Ecosystem, with a tablet. That's what was on his plate. OK, he screwed up royally - the entire company did - but he was dealt a far worse hand, with more chips.

Now that the bottom has fallen out, Chen has to mop up, come up with a new strategy and execute. Limited expectations. A niche player. The major damage has already been done.

[njblackberry]

Thor was the Hail Mary to Mike and Jim. JC is the Hail Mary to Thor.

Sure is a lot of Hail Marys being thrown and no touch down.

With an awful lot of dropped balls

[anon(748538)]

A good follow-up question would be...

Will John Cheng continue to work on BB10 or start BB11?

[amjass12]

i dont know how heins could have been a failure tbh. he pushed bb10 out to market. bb10 is amazing. lack of apps yes, lack of marketing, maybe a little. but its hard to change peoples habits. people dont care that bb10 has caught up to the competition but has a better keyboard or blackberry hub. android and ios has excelled in just bout every single department for a long time, so if im the average consumer.. who cares that bb have something new (unless ur a die hard physical keyboard fan)... people just stick to what they know, bb10, while good.. is not revolutionary.

Now BBM x has done better than the release of bb10... buteveryone i speak to or people i see messaging infront of me on the bus are still using whatsapp... cos there is just no need to change to bbm... its not a convincing swapover... we r a people of habit.. blackberry are too late to the game...

Neither Heinz nor Chen can be blamed for anything bad that happens to the company. Think of all the things heinz could have done better... it still wouldnt have bettered blackberrys chances.

This is not a troll post btw.. just my opinion

[Brutal Efficiency]

Chen has more financials.

$2.6 billion, plus the further $1 billion injected.

BlackBerry Bold 9900; Q10; Z10 [BBM#6]

[jojo beaconsfield]

Interim CEO,nobody seems to realize that he has also been appointed Executive Chair of BB's Board of Directors,so he will be around and right the direction of BB in the future.he must have a pretty good plan to have landed the top job.

[DrBoomBotz]

<snip>android and ios has excelled in just bout every single department for a long time, so if im the average consumer.. who cares that bb have something new (unless ur a die hard physical keyboard fan)... people just stick to what they know, bb10, while good.. is not revolutionary.<snip>

I think you nailed it.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Thor was the Hail Mary to Mike and Jim. JC is the Hail Mary to Thor.

Sure is a lot of Hail Marys being thrown and no touch down.

Fail Mary