The mass exodus of executives at Research in Motion continued this week, as two new executives tied to Blackberry have announced their departure. Senior Vice President Alan Brenner, who led the Blackberry platform at RIM, will be out after a transition period. Alistair Mitchell, a Vice President for the Blackberry instant messaging service, has already left the company.
The moves come as RIM considers a multitude of options for its future, which could include things such as licensing of the Blackberry software to the outright sale of RIM to another company. RIM has had 5 straight quarters of losses including an abysmal Q4 performance, which has led them to change their business strategy to focus less on consumers while trying to win back enterprise customers. Analysts have been averse to RIM’s strategies, with one analysis stating that RIM’s outlook is “grim and getting grimmer.”
I think it’s safe to say that nobody outside and few people inside RIM believe that Blackberry 10 is going to save RIM, and that other options such as licensing or joint ventures will need to be considered. Market share for the Blackberry smartphone platform currently hovers around 8%; good enough to keep hold of the #3 spot, but much lower than expected for a company which once dominated the smartphone market.
[via Bloomberg]