A new line of BlackBerry 10 devices will provide Research In Motion with a framework for growth over the next decade, offering long-term value for unhappy shareholders, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on Wednesday.
In an interview with Reuters, Heins said RIM had identified $800 million of the $1 billion of savings it promised for the financial year ending in early March, and was confident of finding the rest as it gets ready to launch the new phones.
RIM is betting that the new smartphones will help it claw back the market share it has lost to the likes of Apple Inc's iPhone and devices powered by Google's Android operating system.
Both consumers and corporate customers have abandoned the BlackBerry in droves, even though the devices offer security features that rivals have been unable to match.
"There's this high-level security that you cannot walk away from, and then there's 'good enough' security," Heins said in an interview at RIM's Waterloo, Ontario, campus, a sprawl of low-rise buildings.
But analysts remain skeptical, especially after the botched 2011 launch of RIM's PlayBook tablet computer, which the company had hoped would compete with Apple's wildly popular iPad. The PlayBook had top-of-the-line hardware, but its software was far from complete at the launch and needed multiple updates.
RIM delayed the roll-out of the BlackBerry 10 phones to the first quarter of 2013 so as not to repeat the errors that surrounded the PlayBook launch.
Heins said the delay was the correct decision - the way to ensure the BB10 phones are a high-quality product rather than a rushed one that would not meet customer expectations.
"I think it's all lining up. Sometimes you get the feeling that the universe is in disarray, and with BlackBerry 10 coming, I see the stars lining up," Heins said.
SLEEK DEMO MODELS
Sleek demo models of the new phones look much like the high-end smartphones in the market today, and company executives proudly showed off a touch-screen version and a version with the miniature QWERTY keyboard popular with many BlackBerry users.
Users flick a thumb or finger to maneuver from one program to another and can sneak a look at an incoming email while browsing the Internet or using other applications, a multi-tasking ability that RIM says rival devices lack.
Personal and business profiles can be kept separately, something RIM calls BlackBerry Balance. Corporations can erase only their share of the data on a device if they need to do so for security reasons, leaving personal photos, contacts and emails untouched.
The app library available at launch will not match the vast number available on other devices. Heins said RIM had chosen to focus on providing those apps needed in different regional markets. It expects some 100,000 apps to be ready at launch.
The developer community has been broadly enthusiastic about the devices. But financial analysts have mixed views on their likely reception in an ultra-competitive market.
Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette warned last week that BlackBerry 10 is likely to be dead on arrival - with an operating system that gets "a lukewarm response at best," due to the unfamiliar user interface and a shortage of apps.
SHAREHOLDER VALUE
Heins insisted morale was high at the company, despite 5,000 job cuts and a rapidly sliding market share ahead of the launch of the new phones.
RIM's share price is down more than 90 percent from a 2008 peak of about $148. It has fallen even after Heins, a former Siemens AG executive, took over in January. The shares on Wednesday closed at $8.49 on Nasdaq.
"The message to our shareholders is that we understand this is and has been a difficult time for them and for us," the tall, bespectacled CEO said. "But with the development of the BlackBerry 10 platform we are truly convinced that we will create long-term value for RIM's shareholders and investors."
RIM has already given the demo phones to developers and to carriers, and its new BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10, which runs the devices on corporate networks, is in beta testing with 20 key customers -- both government agencies and corporates.
Next month, the company will give more than 50 top enterprise customers technical previews of both BES 10 and the devices.
Heins said the feedback he is getting from the customer base "is very encouraging."
With the erosion of RIM's base particularly strong in North America, there has been speculation the company could choose to launch the new phones in a region where the phones remain popular. Heins said that would not be the case.
"We cannot launch every carrier and every country on the same day, but what we have defined is a set of waves in the various regions," he said. "It is going to be a global launch. There isn't one preferred region. We are managing and planning it as we speak."
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