| RIM CEO Thorsten Heins clarifies comments on change, rejects Android speculation Jan 27th 2012, 12:49 Freshly anointed RIM CEO Thorsten Heins sat down with Crackberry this week to discuss his vision for the future of BlackBerry, his thoughts on Android and, most strikingly, his recent comments about maintaining the status quo. Shortly after his appointment, Heins issued a video address in which he implicitly claimed that RIM doesn't need an overhaul. "If we continue doing well what we're doing, I see no problems with us being in the top three players worldwide in the next years in wireless," the exec said. At the time, we and many other observers read this as a sign that the Heins era would look a lot like the Balsillie-Lazaridis era, but according to the new CEO, that's not the case. "I was talking about drastic or seismic changes," he clarified. "What I was trying to address was that there was some suggestion that RIM should be split up or should even be sold. My true belief is that RIM has the strength and the assets that we can really succeed in this market." Heins went on to claim that there's already "a lot of change" going on at the company -- citing the company's adoption of QNX as a prime example -- and that there's "no standstill at any moment here at RIM." During the same sitdown, Heins also reiterated his belief that RIM shouldn't outsource its software needs to Android, because BlackBerry, in his view, is a hallmark of differentiation. "Just take a look where the Android OEMs are," Heins said. "Take a look at their recent announcements and what you will immediately see is there is just no room for differentiation because they are all the same." The exec acknowledged that RIM may be taking the road less traveled, but seemed confident in its ability to rise to the challenge -- even if there are some bumps along the way. "This is not baking cookies," Heins elaborated. "This is building high tech products. From time to time your aspirations and your development timelines hit some bumps in the road that were not foreseen." RIM CEO Thorsten Heins clarifies comments on change, rejects Android speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Verge |  Crackberry | Email this | Comments | | Hawaii's proposed online tracking law comes under fire from ISPs, civil libertarians Jan 27th 2012, 12:15  There may be some trouble brewing in paradise, thanks to a seemingly draconian law currently under consideration in Hawaii's state legislature. If passed, H.B. 2288 would require all ISPs within the state to track and store information on their customers, including details on every website they visit, as well as their own names and addresses. The measure, introduced on Friday, also calls for this information to be recorded on each customer's digital file and stored for a full two years. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the bill includes virtually no restrictions on how ISPs can use (read: "sell") this information, nor does it specify whether law enforcement authorities would need a court order to obtain a user's dossier from an ISP. And, because it applies to any firm that "provides access to the Internet," the law could conceivably be expanded to include not just service providers, but internet cafes, hotels or other businesses. Democratic Representative John Mizuno is the lead sponsor of the bill, though his support already seems to be waning. Not long after H.B. 2288 was introduced, Republican Representative Kymberly Pine told CNET that she would be withdrawing her support for it, adding that her intent was not to track Hawaiian web surfing, but to simply protect "victims of crime." "We do not want to know where everyone goes on the Internet," Pine explained. "That's not our interest. We just want the ability for law enforcement to be able to capture the activities of crime." Pine went on to acknowledge that the proposal has come under fire from many civil libertarians and internet companies within the state, and that the measure will likely be revised. In retrospect, she said, the concept of storing personal information "was a little broad," and Hawaii's lawmakers "deserved" the criticism they received during today's hearing. Hawaii's proposed online tracking law comes under fire from ISPs, civil libertarians originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Gizmodo | CNET (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | |
