RIM CEO: We're Not In A Death Spiral

RIM needs to sell a positive message right now and that's exactly what CEO Thorsten Heins hoped to achieve when he spoke to Canada's CBC Radio Tuesday morning. Heins clearly wanted to redirect some of the negative press the company has received since it announced its quarterly earnings late last month.

"There's nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now," said Hein, according to transcriptions of the interview. "I'm not talking about the company I ... took over six months ago. I'm talking about the company [in the] state it's in right now."

Exactly what state is that? Well, the company just had one of its worst quarters in years, delayed its next-generation smartphone platform, and announced layoffs that will affect nearly one-third of the smartphone maker's employees. What's important to keep in mind that these results paint a picture of decisions made months, if not years, ago.

Heins is on a mission to turn the company around and part of the problem is that the outside world hasn't seen any evidence of that. So when Heins says he thinks there's nothing wrong with the company, he means its strategy and direction today are the right ones to pursue. We won't know that for sure until early next year.

[ Wall Street has a dim view of RIM. Read RIM Is Broken, Morgan Stanley Says. ]

Heins also bristled at accusations that the firm is ignoring the competition, specifically Google's Android platform and Apple's iPhone.

"This company is not ignoring the world out there, nor is it in a death spiral," said Heins. "Yes, it is very, very challenged at the moment--specifically in the U.S. market. The way I would describe it: we're in the middle of a transition. All that is in the making, it's in the works. This company is in the middle of it and I'm positive we will emerge successfully from that transition."

I only hope RIM can hold on that long.

BlackBerry 10 was originally supposed to launch during the first half of 2012. Earlier this year, RIM updated that to the end of 2012--a delay of nearly six months. Last month, RIM said that BlackBerry 10 won't arrive until the first quarter of 2013, long after iOS 6, Windows Phone 8, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean arrive.

"RIM's development teams are relentlessly focused on ensuring the quality and reliability of the platform and I will not compromise the product by delivering it before it is ready," said Heins. "I am confident that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience."