RIM Announces New COO And CMO

RIM has today announced its new COO and CMO. The new chief operating officer will be Kristian Tear, and Frank Boulben will serve as the new chief marketing officer. Tear previously worked for Sony, where he held several positions, the most notable being the Executive Vice President of Sony Mobile. Boulben meanwhile comes from Lightsquared, where he was the Executive Vice President of Stategy, Marketing, and Sales for LightSquared.

Tear seems to have risen up through the ranks at Sony, serving as the CEO and President of Ericsson from 1999-2005, after which he moved through Sony in various positions across the world, including London and Munich. Boulben has worked with several wireless carriers in the past, including Vodafone and Orange, and was recruited as employee number two to help build out LightSquared's 4G LTE network across the United States.

The shakeup comes at a time when RIM is trying to claw its way back into the market place, losing ground to platforms like iOS and Android. Some have said that RIM is becoming increasingly less relevant in the market, with the Waterloo based company taking several steps to try and get the company back on track.

Co-CEOs of RIM Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down from their positions back in January, with newcomer Thorsten Heins taking the reins of the company. Since then, he has reportedly been firing high level executives within the company, with the former COO Jim Rowan stepping down at the end of March. The company is hoping that BlackBerry 10 devices will help turn the tide when they launch towards the end of this year.