It"s no secret that Research In Motion had plenty of problems before its founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis left their roles as co-CEOs in January. Now a report claims that Balsillie had a plan that would have radically changed how RIM operated. However, that plan was reportedly voted down by Lazaridis and other members of the company.
Reuters reports via unnamed sources that Balsillie wanted to explore the idea of allowing other wireless carriers access to RIM"s proprietary network and applications on Apple"s iPhone and on Android-based devices. That would have included access to the company"s popular BlackBerry Messenger. The story claims Balsillie was in talks with AT&T and Verizon here in the US, along with carriers in other countries, about this plan.
However, the story adds that his idea of opening up RIM"s closed-off network to other phones was rejected by Lazaridis, RIM"s new CEO Thorsten Heins and RIM"s board of directors. They wanted to stick to RIM"s current plan which is to release the Blackberry 10 operating system, along with new smartphones, later this year.
Balsillie departed RIM completely after his proposal was denied, according to the story. Lazaridis still remains with the company as vice-chairman of RIM"s board and also leads an innovation committee at the company.