

Ask HN: What would you do if you were RIM's new CTO? - stevewilhelm


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yanivtal
RIM's lost the ecosystem war already so they need to abandon the burning
platform. I would either use Windows Phone or fork Android depending on
Microsoft's willingness to give up source. After deciding on the OS I would do
deep integration with 1) Cloud storage 2) BBM 3) Social 4) Docs.

Imagine having a screen on your phone that has all the newest docs that your
team has created, and being able to comment on one right from there. Imagine a
screen that shows you what everybody on your team is working on and who's
waiting on what. I would work with up and coming enterprise software companies
and try to close bus dev deals that give us an advantage, and I would offer
our data centers for doing the heavy lifting.

Their advantage used to be their integration with e-mail. Now they have to
embrace cutting edge collaboration tools.

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electrichead
It should be entirely possible for them to use a modified version of Android
like the NSA one. Starting from scratch again with QNX does not seem to be
going well for them. The blackberry OS was based on java, so I presume it
should be easier to keep some of their old code base than to start over.

I definitely don't want to be in that guy's shoes!

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calculus
Drop the harware business, and focus on getting the complete device management
software solutions that companies can't live without. (from cloud backup to
security enhanced android forks)

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staunch
Start making the best Android phones possible for business users.

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stevewilhelm
[http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/29/us-rim-
idUSBRE82S1...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/29/us-rim-
idUSBRE82S1DW20120329)

------
michaelochurch
Fire people on April 1. They don't know if they really lost their jobs till
Monday, 4/3.

(At a startup where a lot of people I care about work, the CTO just left, and
the VP/Finance is moving against star engineers because, perversely, it
benefits her if the company fails a key deliverable. I am in a shitty mood
right now.)

