RIM CEO Thorsten Heins at the company's BlackBerry World event in May.
(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)
It's funny how a company with nearly 80 million subscribers can be considered to be in a death spiral.
But that's exactly where Research In Motion finds itself. On the heels of a disappointing quarterly loss, a warning of further losses ahead, and the delay of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, many are questioning the company's ability to continue to operate. Shareholders voiced their displeasure with the company yesterday even as executives pleaded for patience.
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, however, believes people are underestimating the company's odds for a revival. His key argument: that base of tens of millions of BlackBerry customers, many of whom pay a monthly fee for services, security, and access to a global data network provided by RIM. The services play is what sets the company apart from the typical handset vendor, he argued.
"Other handset vendors don't have a services play, and we're in a different situation," Heins said in an interview with CNET. "I'm not starting at zero."
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