RIM CEO Thorsten Heins’s assertion that “there’s nothing wrong with the company as it exists now”
could have more dire consequences than the usual howls of laughter from the tech press. The New York Times has spoken with “several securities law experts and some investors” who say that Heins’s overly rosy statements, combined with delays for major product releases such as BlackBerry 10, could allow investors to credibly sue him for misrepresenting the current state of the company.
“They’re going to get sued and they should get sued because I think a closer look at the record is likely to unearth knowing and willful misrepresentation,” Jean-Louis Gassée, the former president of Apple’s products division and current venture capitalist, told the Times. “When the C.E.O. says there’s nothing wrong with the company as it is, it’s not cautious, it doesn’t make sense.”
For RIM’s part, it says that Heins is so optimistic because “unlike many commentators or analysts, he has actually seen the progress being made on BlackBerry 10 and is confident in its ability to play a significant role in the future of mobile computing.”
