Thorsten Heins, the new CEO of Research In Motion, is planning a campaign to win back market share for BlackBerry devices in the US. RIM will begin a campaign with US carriers this week to entice consumers to try its latest BlackBerry 7 devices, Heins said in an interview with Bloomberg. The promotions won't be about "just simply money," they will also involve mobile apps, he said. "We have to do something dramatically different in the US to get our market share back," said Heins. "I'm here to fight. I'm here to win." The CEO said his immediate priority is to revive BlackBerry sales in the US, get a revamped version of the PlayBook tablet onto the market next month and introduce the new operating system, BlackBerry 10, on time later this year. The company needs to improve its marketing and communicate better to build excitement about its products, he said. US sales fell 45 percent last quarter, dragging revenue lower even as sales in emerging markets like Indonesia and India surged. Heins admitted the company missed the shift in the US to more consumer-oriented features like web browsing and apps. It's now focused on BB10, which the CEO said has already attracted licensing interest. The company has held discussions with interested handset makers and personal-computer makers, he said, declining to name them.
