It was January 22nd, 2012... one year ago... when the press release hit that Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry had a new CEO. It was out with the old co-CEOs -- Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis -- and in with the new, Thorsten Heins.  

Thorsten Heins impressed us immediately. Literally within minutes of being named CEO, he gave CrackBerry a call. We were literally the first phone call Thorsten made as CEO. It was a symbolic gesture that made a huge statement with CrackBerry Nation. In over five years of covering the BlackBerry beat intimately, we had never once had a proper sit down or interview with the former CEOs. Heins rectified that immediately and we'll never forget it.

That was the first of many, many, many changes within Research In Motion we have witnessed over the past year. Under Heins' leadership, the company has a renewed energy, is laser focused and on task. They're working hard, and they're having fun as they hustle to bring BlackBerry 10 to market. We'll have a more indepth "one year later" post coming up soon, but for now I just wanted to get in here and make a toast to Thorsten.

Congrats on one year on the job, and all the best on the BlackBerry 10 launch. Now hit the video above to watch us shoot back some Jägermeister. Cheers!

Read more