BlackBerry Ltd Ex-CEO Heins Is 'Proud Of The Last Two Years'

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BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) ex-CEO Thorsten Heins said in a recent talk with CNET that he has no regrets about his seven years at the company, and it was a fantastic time. Heins said that he is “especially” proud of his last two years at the company.

BlackBerry was full of challenges at that time

He said that while taking up the position of CEO, BlackBerry was on the verge of breaking, and his task was to stabilize the company and its financials, strategic direction, expenses, and operations. Heins said that these tasks were simultaneously going with the BB10 innovation effort and launching BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.

At that time, according to Heins, he was turning around a company while taking consent from people who were there to execute huge programs under huge pressure.

Heins said, “I’ve been proud to lay groundwork to give them the platforms that they can take to market. I think it’s quite an achievement given the circumstances.”

Heins uses BlackBerry Porsche

On being asked what phone he uses, Heins said he uses a BlackBerry 9982, the Porsche version of the Z10, and he just got a package at home with a new Passport.

“It was the last phone I designed with my team. That keyboard as a touchpad — it’s so cool,” Heins said.

Heins, who is now CEO of Powermat (a wireless charging company), said both Powermat and BlackBerry were in discussions way back about wireless charging.

“But with BB10 and NFC [near-field communications], there was only so much you can impose when you build a new hardware and platform,” he added.

Shifting focus

BlackBerry remained on the verge of breaking despite Heins’ steps, such as rolling over BlackBerry 10 smartphones in various countries, bringing in Alicia Keys as the “creative director” and investing heavily during the 2013 Super Bowl.

These efforts, however, fell flat, making the situation even worse for the company, with a sparse chance of making a comeback and attaining a respectable position in the smartphone market. Heins exited BlackBerry last year in November and was succeeded by current CEO John Chen, who was more concerned with the company’s focus toward business software and security. Even though the company is creating all sort of hype with the BlackBerry Passport, it is definitely not the company’s core segment anymore.

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