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Thorsten Heins w/ CrackBerry Kevin
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49 Comments

Going Head to Shoulder with RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins!

By Kevin Michaluk on 1 May 2012 07:54 am
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The Fearless Leader of BlackBerry meets The Fearless Leader of CrackBerry

Lesson #1: Never leave a BlackBerry World party before its over or you might miss your chance at bumping into and talking to RIM's CEO! Just as Adam and I were heading out of the Monday night #BBWC Opening Reception we spotted Thorsten Heins walking in, undoubtedly a little late for the festivities due to rehearsals for Tuesday's big keynote.

Lesson #2: Spotting RIM's new CEO in a crowd is easy. Just look up! Seriously, At just over 6'1" I'm fairly tall, but standing next to Thorsten my head literally comes up to his shoulder. He's a giant.

This was my first time meeting Thorsten Heins in person, and just as he was super friendly and approachable when I interviewed him during his first week as RIM's new CEO, the same was true in real life. Well, minus the fact maybe that in person he could probably crush me into the ground if I stepped out line. Damn leverage. :)

Thorsten Heins w/ CrackBerry Kevin
Expressing to Thorsten what CrackBerry readers would like to see in BlackBerry 10

Thorsten Heins w/ CrackBerry Kevin
Thorsten brings the conversation down a few inches to CrackBerry Kevin level

Topics: BlackBerry 10 Thorsten Heins BlackBerry World 2012 News & Rumors Editorial

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Kevin Michaluk Kevin Michaluk 3704 (articles) 3034 (forum posts)
49 comments

xenrobia

Identical Twins?

Strider2112

Are you smoking reefer?

the brother

does Orlando have hair salons. FIND ONE ASAP!

:P

jlb21

I agree. Kevin needs a cut!!!!

rickbansal

Kevin, what were his reactions to your suggestions? Was he surprised by anything you said? Thanks.

Rub3n5

I'm curious to know Thorsten's response as well...

bluetroll

I'm looking forward to his keynote this morning!

martinjdub

A great read and huge respect for Thor. What a change from the old boys club and for the better!

PS - first!

thatplaybookguy

Us Canadians are tall! Thorsten is a nie person, when I had issues with my pb He offered to replace it immediately but I fixed the problem myself.

birdman_36

Hmm...I had a problem with mine and spent about 7 hours on the phone with tech. They offered to replace it only after I asked if that option was available. It appears Thorsten's approach and vision is not consistent with their actual policies and procedures.

shn'g

Wow you got the wrong person. I just went through this process and it took me maybe an hour on the phone and they were very nice. Getting the fed ex box to ship them my dud playbook and he said they will either fix it or send me a new one with in 10 days. Maybe they are changing!

Rothlander

same here, screen wouldnt do anything besides the backlight. Phoned support, they talked me through a process of restarting and downloading an older OS. Even though the 90 day support was over they made me sign up again. The Rep on the phone told me to take some pics of the screen and email them, which i did. Was told to wait a few minutes while she talked to her supervisor. She came back on the phone told me she was transferring my call to someone who delt with the repairs. The guy who i was transferrred to explained the process for shipping the playbook, checked my information again. Whole proccess was less than an hour, and everyone was friendly. Within a few business day they sent me a prepaid fedex box, i put the playbook in sent it out and received the same unit back within a week. very easy and painless process.

yunvi

Thats pretty cool kevin !! A huge guy ready for the huge battle ahead... Ill have my playbook and 9900 all the wqy through !!! Keep that coverage coming crack team !!

jinxednuance

Change whatever orange 70s disco you're wearing.

Get yourself a proper haircut (or put something on your hair).

Ok, now you're good to go with the guy :D

boldkeyboardholic

haha I that first as well this outfit is ~~~

but then I got it. He wanted to wear CB colors ;)

Bla1ze

You care entiely too much about what Kevin is wearing and how his hair looks.

Adhamalghamdi

hope that he is taking everything seriously

timmsy

be more careful Kevin, that end photo looks like it was a geek laugh and you may have snorted a little

RIM Platinum Partner : o2 Data Centre of Excellence

Business Communications Solution Provider
part of Mobile Telecoms Tech Team

SuperionMaximus

Thorsten Heins is 100% truly a class act. He's CEO of a multinational billion dollar company and yet he shows up to the launch party and chats with Kevin casually. That's something that is really rare in CEOs and I think that direct connection that Mr Heins is fostering with the community that uses BlackBerry products will truly benefit RIM and make BlackBerry products that much better. Thanks for the wonderful article and the great work Kevin and thanks to Mr Heins for being the kind of CEO that RIM needs to pull through this transition and emerge that much stronger.

Cntdwn

I believe it's a Moore's suit commercial that says over 50% of the Fortune 500 CEO's are over 6'3''; something along those lines. Looks like Heins is above average!

xtremez

WOW. You guys look more alike than anyone would have thought. But good to see Companies and Communities communicating, in an informal way (outside the usual structured communications method)

Breaks down some of the communication walls, like the company is covered with a iron curtain.

Bilaal

Awesome picture! I'm smiling like a proud mother! *insert denzel washington 'mah nigga' meme*

TIMSHULL

He's taller brutha he ain't bigger!

Chrisy

This is awesome! Definitely a change from the old RIM days. Nice work, Kevin and the gang!

birdman_36

The previous co-CEO's wouldn't give Kevin the time of day, Remember when Kev got an extensive tour of RIM's headquarters? They didn't even step out of their offices for 5 minutes for a photo op.

TIMSHULL

Ya this guy "gets it"

Trini-34

Please show him a picture of the BlackBerry Blade (awesome device) lol. Let him know he has true followers of their products!!

SFWriter

From what I've been reading on CB since the new CEO took over and on the RIM Beta site, the good folks at RIM / Blackberry have been reading the forms and blogs on CB.

That said, I suspect that they've seen the Blade (and other concepts). My hope is they would take the best concept(s) and either reform it to a possible production model or run with it as is (if a production model is cost effective).

Either way, we'll all know soon enough.

Madmax246

What is kevin whereing haha? i know he is trying to boost our rep and everthing but it just does not work

Kevin Michaluk

Dude. That's a D&G blazer with a CrackBerry orange shirt. It's hot. CBK got Style. You need to hit up thestylereport.com and work on yours :)

jlb21

Too bad you weren't wearing your pimped out PB around your neck when you met him!!!!

Innerchild

I like the long hair! And all that matters really is what the future Mrs. Crackberry likes!

Brit6

I agree, first thing i noticed was kevin's ugly t-shirt and messy hair! Not professional man!

BerryRipe

This was a very refreshing article to see and read. I am even more proud of Crackberry and RIM. This is a very good sign that positive changes are really taking place their at RIM. I can't wait to hear more. Have a great time Kevin!

3Dee

Is that a tux jacket Kevin?!

spencerdl

I like the idea that RIM's CEO is approachable.....which BlackBerry device does he use?

Simon Sage

Yeah, 6'1" is tall, I guess.

MsBrittz1016

That's fantastic!!! Hahahaha

jayemmbee

I didnt know Kevin was 6'1 , woah thats a Tall CEO lol

bounce007

Aragorn & Sam the Hobbit! Lol. Just joking. Is the CEO that tall or is Kevin just not that tall? *cough SHORT cough*

EDIT: I just read the article, and realized that Mr. CEO is very tall! :^O Kevin is 6-1 and looks like a dwarf compared to the CEO

all3n7

...HAHAHA NICE PIC.. GANDALF AND PRODO BAGGINS ( LORD OF THE RINGS )OR SHOULD WE SAY (( " LORD OF THE RIMS " ))

DAMN HE'S TALL... AWESOME KEVIN, GREAT JOB..!

j8lin

Are u guys wearing the same glasses?!?

jonno_atamaniuk

Nice photo op Kevin! Loving the coverage you guys are doing of BlackBerry World 2012. Kept me informed through the whole day thanks to my BlackBerry device and the feeds app. Much better coverage than most other tech blogs I found. Keep up the great work!

jlb21

Wait.....I just figured it out......Kevin and Thorsten were acting out the Adams Family!!! Thorsten is Lurch and Kevin is Cousin It.