BlackBerry bosses to step down

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  BlackBerry maker Research In Motion had a difficult 2011

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's co-chief executives, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, are stepping down, the company said.

RIM said the pair, who founded the company, would be replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG.

Mr Balsillie and Mr Lazaridis have headed Ontario-based RIM together for the past two decades.

The company took a big slide in 2011, dropping behind its peers in the lightning-paced smartphone market, suffering through the worst service blackout in its history and losing tens of billions in market value.

In addition, the PlayBook tablet, RIM's answer to the Apple iPad, failed to gain consumer support, forcing the company to give it deep discounts to move the devices off store shelves.

Source: Yahoo