During a press event at RIM's BlackBerry Jam Americas, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins declared that the company's new Blackberry 10 operating system could be one of the most used in the world, though not necessarily number one.
"I think we have a clear shot at being the number three mobile operating system in the world," he said. That's quite a modest goal considering that an IDC study shows that RIM is already number three in worldwide market share behind Android and iOS.
The press event was meant to give Heins and RIM's chief marketing officer Frank Boulben an opportunity to give gathered media and industry analysts an idea of how RIM is working to improve its standing in the mobile market. The company, which once was the smartphone leader, has fallen on hard times as of late, including massive layoffs, tumbling stocks and service disruptions in Europe and Africa.
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"I'm really proud, I'm fired up, I'm really excited about what's ahead of us, we still have a lot to do to get our product out, by the first quarter of 2013," Heins said.
Heins explained that the various structural changes that the company has gone through in the previous months are now complete and that there is only one chief operating officer rather than the three RIM previously had.
He further stated that the company is making good progress with its cost reduction program, an effort to cut $1 billion in costs, and indicated that the company has managed to cut roughly half of that amount already. "We are half way there, but we still have a long way to go," Heins said.
Still, Heins said he wants RIM to return to the prominence it once enjoyed in the mobile market. "I'm not stopping until this company is where is belongs, which is in a leadership role in mobile computing."
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