Blackberry maker RIM says co-chief executives step down

Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has said its co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down in a shake-up.

Mr Lazaridis, who founded RIM in 1984, will become vice chairman. Mr Balsillie will continue to sit on the board but not have any operational role. According to BBC Chief operating officer Thorsten Heins will replace them starting Monday. Investors have called for a strategy change as the company struggles to compete with Apple and Google. Mr Lazaridis, speaking after the announcement, said he recognized things needed to change at the company. Mr Heins started at RIM in 2007, having previously worked at Siemens Communications. He became the chief operating officer in August 2011. Blackberry, which was once extremely popular with users, has suffered major setbacks in recent months. It had its worst service outage in 2011 and has been losing market share to its competitors in the smartphone markets. Billions of dollars have been wiped from its market value as shares have tumbled 75% and sales have dropped. One of its latest offering the PlayBook tablet, a reply to Apple's iPad, has not proven as popular as the company had hoped. (BBC)