Once upon a time, Research in Motion's (RIM; NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry was so prevalent and addictive that it earned its "CrackBerry" nickname. But the onset of iPhones and Android phones have seen the once-mighty BlackBerry decline, and the company's share of the U.S. smartphone market keeps heading south--along with the company's stock, which fell about 75% last year. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company today saw a shakeup in which Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie resigned, to be replaced by COO Thorsten Heins, effective immediately.
RIM's founder, Lazaridis, will become vice chairman, while former co-CEO Balsillie will remain on the board. In a statement issued by the company, Balsillie said: "I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company."
New CEO Heins joined RIM in 2007 from Siemens Communications Group as an SVP for hardware engineering and took on the COO for product and sales in August 2011.
