RIM leaders quit. Future remains uncertain.

So it's finally official. Research In Motion's co-CEOs and co-chairs Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie are stepping down from their posts (press release, WSJ, Globe & Mail, National Post). Current COO Thorsten Heins has been elevated to CEO, while former Royal Bank of Canada Barbara Stymiest becomes RIM's first-ever independent board chair. The now-former leaders will remain as members of the board.

What does it mean? Well, without much new products in the pipeline - new BlackBerry smartphones based on the next-generation BlackBerry 10 aren't due until the second half of this year, and the PlayBook is still languishing in the tablet-market equivalent of oblivion - not much. RIM needs renewal, and the leadership changes are only the first step in this process.

Worse, while I'm sure Mr. Heins is a superbly experienced industry vet - he was most recently RIM's COO, and has been in the telecom space for 30 years, including a stint as CTO at Siemens - he remains a RIM insider. If the company had been truly serious about reinventing itself, it would have looked to someone from either another company or another industry entirely. It's been done before - think Ford and ex-Boeing chief Alan Mullaly - and it could have been leveraged here, too.

I'll have lots to say on this in the days ahead, including a hit with CTV's Canada AM at 7 a.m. Eastern tomorrow (Monday). I'll add links to this entry as they hit the web.

Your turn: Thoughts?

Where I'm writing:

• My op-ed in Tuesday's Toronto Star (!) Suggestions for RIM's new CEO as he settles in
• My op-ed in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record and the Guelph Mercury (RIM's HQ is in Waterloo, so the KW paper is its hometown paper.) New leaders face new challenges (alternate link here)

My articles for Yahoo! Canada:

• Is Lazaridis/Balsillie exit enough to save RIM?
• Heins's first 100 days: Crucial window for new CEO starts now
  
• Life after RIM: What's next for Balsillie, Lazaridis?
  

Where I've been quoted/interviewed:

• I chatted with Beverly Thomson on this morning's CTV Canada AM. Main story link here.
• Spoke with CKCO Kitchener's Abigail Bimman via Skype for their 11:30 p.m. newscast.
• Havard Gould included my comments in a piece he aired on CBC's The National.
• Spoke with Kieron O'Dea for a piece for Global National.
• Bantered with CTV News Channel's Jacqueline Milczarek and Dan Matheson.
  
• Appeared on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
• Spoke with Aaron Rand of Montreal's CJAD, because radio in my old hometown is just that special.
  
• I spoke with the Toronto Star. RIM's Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie resign. byline Michael Lewis.

Additional links/resources:

• At Research In Motion, a new CEO vows to silence the doomsayers
• Bowing to critics and market forces, RIM's co-chiefs step aside
• Meet Thorsten - RIM blog post on their new honcho.