RIM loses PlayBook product manager to Samsung

RIM's woes have continued after the smartphone maker lost a senior product manager to major rival Samsung.

Ryan Biden, formerly a senior product manager for the BlackBerry PlayBook, defected to the Korean manufacturer, where he is now director of product marketing.

He is the second high-level executive to leave RIM in the past month, following Brian Wallace, who was vice president of digital media and is now vice president of strategic marketing at Samsung.

Biden's last official act was to help launch the PlayBook, which debuted to a mixed reception. The device was plagued by problems on release, and RIM had to embarrassingly admit that it had shipped 1,000 faulty models. However, the tablet appears to be back on track as RIM shipped 500,000 devices in the most recent quarter.

Still, RIM has been struggling with numerous problems over the past 12 months. The firm received scathing criticism from Morgan Stanley for ineffective R&D ahead of its financial results, which were below par.

The firm's shares plunged by 15 per cent in mid-June after it announced that profits were down $74m year on year.

Dissent within the RIM ranks was also confirmed by an anonymous high-level employee, who published an open letter outlining faults in the current management.

Among the criticisms were a poor management structure, a lack of focus on developers, and an accusation that the company is carrying too much dead wood.

21 Jul 2011