BlackBerry CEOs ousted after year of poor sales

Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that its co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, have stepped down. Thorstein Heins has been named as the successor to the pair. Heins was previously a Chief Operating Officer for RIM.

While the release from RIM describes the change as being in line with a succession plan that the CEOs had previously submitted to the company's board, the move was not unexpected after a year of poor sales for BlackBerry.

Lazaridis pointed to the release of the BlackBerry Playbook 2 and that it was a good time to hand off to a new leader. Balsillie, who will remain on the board of RIM, said that Heins had the confidence of he and Lazaridis, as well as the board.

Lazaridis was keen to bolster the company's public image, stating that he plans to buy $50million in shares as a statement of support for the new direction.

Heins, in a statement, said that revenues were good, and that RIM was entering a new phase, with the immediate focus being on building on its heritage as a customer-focused company. However, RIM's share price has dropped significantly over the last year.

BlackBerry currently has 11% of the world's smartphone market share.

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