Did RIM lose its BlackBerry software boss just ahead of QNX transition?

By on Jul 26, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Business July 26, 2011

BGR has learned that Research In Motion’s head of BlackBerry software may have left the company. Suresh Periyalwar, Senior Vice President of Handheld Software, had been with RIM since April 2001 when he joined as Director of Software Development. He came to the company from Nortel, where he managed CDMA-related development for more than five years. Periyalwar was promoted to SVP at RIM three years ago in May 2008 according to his LinkedIn profile, which still has him listed as a RIM employee. BGR has also learned from a trusted source that several additional key executives have been planning to leave on their own accord. (more

RIM’s stock is down more than 60% from its 12-month high of $70.54, and there is a great deal of unrest at the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. BGR exclusively published an open letter from an anonymous senior executive at RIM late last month, which pleaded for the company’s top management to make several strategic changes in order to regain momentum and mind share in the smartphone market. A later expose, also published by BGR, painted a troubling picture of the smartphone vendor that once revolutionized the industry.

If Periyalwar did in fact leave the company as multiple sources have informed BGR, it might not bode well for RIM’s next-generation smartphones. The departure of RIM’s SVP of Handheld Software just ahead of the company’s transition to QNX could imply that the executive did not have confidence in RIM’s brand new platform. On the other hand, Periyalwar may have been pushed out in favor of fresh leadership in its software division ahead of the company’s QNX smartphone launches. RIM declined to confirm or deny the executive’s departure when reached for comment by BGR. Periyalwar could not be reached for comment.

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  • Anonymous

    It’s time to get someone in there who can perform faster and better.

    BTW – I thought that the QNX show was being run out of their Ottawa Head Quarters.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B3GFKCKHPI5EQQIDCGWPUV5VTA Cue

    As long as QNX is coming , I really don’t care who is in charge.

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  • Anonymous

    Whatever you want to say about RIM there is still millions of people out there who are using blackberry handsets. A lot of youngsters you see in the streets and on the buses use bbm. Colleagues that i work with use blackberry for their work stuff. So as much talk of decline there is i am afraid there are loads of people who use and would still buy their products.

    And im an android user myself.  Blackberry torch..Worst phone ever in my opinion

    • http://policydiary.com/ John S. Wilson

      Youngsters are getting out of BBM just like they got out of the Sidekick. Tastes change all the time and when companies, like BB, are overly focused on nostalgia they lose their way. 

  • Anonymous

    Will Google buy Blackberry?

    With all the patent problems Google is facing, with Eric Schmidt regularly see using Blackberries, with the state of RIM’s market share and the laying off thousands of employees and this guy leaving…it wouldn’t surprise me.

  • Automat_0r

    At the end of the day, QNX will be sex.

  • RIM

    WE WILL PREVAIL.

  • Racer416

    Well it’s no wonder RIM is floundering. It’s full of ex-f*ck*ng Nortel and Motorola employees. These companies were losers!  You would think that Mike Lazy-idis or Jim Balls-of-Steel would have the intelligence to poach some talent from winning companies, like, I dunno, Google or Apple? Just a thought.

  • Hockeydude121

    They fired the guy responsible for RIM’s extremely shitty software. How is this surprising?

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  • Gman

    RIMM is done, put a fork in it..

  • http://sg.blackberry.com/apps-software/ BlackBerry software

    Hope RIM will be better due to releasing some new phones this year!

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