RIM's PlayBook Manager Jumps Ship To Samsung

RIM's senior product manager on the BlackBerry PlayBook team has defected to Samsung, it's been revealed, where he will take charge of the Korean company's US mobile marketing team. Ryan Bidan confirmed the change in roles on his LinkedIn profile, moving to Dallas, Tx, to work with Samsung Telecommunications America as the Director of Product Marketing. His decision comes a month after RIM's VP of Digital Marketing and Media, Brian Wallace, also moved to Samsung.

Bidan had worked with RIM for just short of three years, and was best known for his work on the PlayBook tablet. Commonly found demonstrating the QNX slate at press events and previews, Bidan took the PlayBook to New York to film a pre-launch video and build hype; hype that, arguably, the tablet itself couldn't quite live up to.

Before working with RIM, Bidan had been Microsoft's product manager of games, at the company for almost eight years. The exact nature of Bidan's new role with Samsung is unclear, but will involve pushing the smartphone and tablet ranges. Last month, Samsung Mobile's CTO, Omar Khan, left to take a job at Citigroup, having been heavily involved in the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab projects.

[via CrackBerry]