RIM's Mike Lazaridis halts BBC interview when pressed on India

By on Apr 13, 2011 at 11:41 AM
mobile April 13, 2011

In a recent BBC interview, Research In Motion’s CEO Mike Lazaridis was not digging a line of questioning posed about India. RIM’s co-chief, who is usually calm, cool, and collected, became agitated when pressed about what the interviewer perceived as “security issues” with his company’s platform. In fairness to Lazaridis, we are only given a brief, sixty-second excerpt of the interview — we don’t see what the previous questions were, or the overall tone of the conversation before the CEO terminated the sit-down. Despite soaring shipment numbers, the company has been taking heat from the media hive-mind; who have relentlessly rained criticism upon the company for its business decisions. Hit the read link to watch the video and be sure to swing back by to let us know what you think.

[Via CrackBerry]

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  • http://twitter.com/makhanko makhanko

    Asking the question “Are you confident that you will be able to give assurances to people in India and Middle East that they will be able to use their Blackberies without problems?” it’s like asking Google to guarantee access to their search in China. And the BBC guy just kept asking the same question over and over. Seems hostile and unprofessional to me…

  • on the fence

    Interviewer had no idea what he was talking about. What also needs mentioning here is that the BBC has an agenda of it’s own. They’re very pro Apple and are constantly putting up stuff about them on BBC news and Click and only ever post negative RIM info. Where’s the rest of the interview and why focus only on the bit where Mike said enough was enough? Someone at the Beeb has been sent some free iPads for this.

  • Anonymous

    You people realize it’s the companies that run the BES servers not RIM?

    And it’s that companies that deploys the blackberry’s with it’s own BES server and security keys.

    So your tell me, that it’s RIM fault for having secure communications, but it’s ok for companies to employ terrorist in your company and make money in your country so they can buy weapons.

    • http://twitter.com/JaredHylton Jared Hylton

      Do you SPEAK the English language? LOL or did you use a translator? Because….this so seems like you used a translator.

  • Anonymous

    I think he is right to walk out on those BBC commies. If he was a terrorist he would be throwing softball questions.

  • http://twitter.com/rravindras Ryan

    I think the interview was supposed to be focused on the Playbook itself, but as a CEO of RIM, he should have handled it better than that. He should’ve given a vague answer and refocused it on the playbook instead of saying the interviewer was asking an unfair question. In an interview, you should be prepared for any question.

  • BeenThere

    Classic Lazardis. The demeanour represented in the BBC clip is just a sliver of what the man is like to work with. He isn’t above berating, ignoring or flat out dismissing his employees.

  • Guest

    Tough questions go with the territory when you’re CEO. On the other hand, “in all fairness” to Mike, that interviewer was like a dog with a bone and just wouldn’t let go. Mike must have felt that the interview wasn’t going to move on, so ….

  • http://www.Appculture.net DM Cook

    I don’t understand how this is “unfair” at all. The reporter is simply asking him for his input on a statement made by several government officials. All he says to defuse the situation is that “it’s used by everyone” and that “we’re being singled out” because Blackberry is so popular. No assurance of the security of the product. No evidence given that the claims were inaccurate. No confidence on the part of RIM. And an obviously shaken and visibly distressed co-CEO at the mere mention of something that the reporter astutely thought to mention… due to its relevance.

    Hmm.

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