New BlackBerry CEO John Chen has some pretty important decisions to make, and he refuses to make them without taking the time to think about the implications of his actions. No decision is more important than deciding whether or not BlackBerry should continue to support BlackBerry 10. The ink wasn't even dry on the headlines announcing the failure of the Fairfax Financial buyout when Android fans started calling on the Canadian manufacturer to adopt Google's open source OS.
Chen said in an interview on Tuesday that having been on the job for only 24 hours, it would be inappropriate for him to comment on a possible switch to Android. The executive said, "I think just jumping to an Android without a thought through of why BlackBerry needs to be around and what makes us relevant and all that, before I answer that question, jumping to anything is inappropriate." He also explained the interim CEO title by saying that "on a day-to-day basis I eventually will really need a good, solid CEO."
What constitutes the perfect CEO for BlackBerry in Chen's eyes? He wants someone knowledgeable in software who understands services and marketing. But the big decision that Chen is deciding on now is which BlackBerry model to use. He says that he has to decide between a big screen or a QWERTY keyboard. But once that choice is made, the executive will have some real serious things to think abut that will have far-reaching ramifications on the future of the company that he now runs.
"Whatever is the right thing for the business, you need to preserve the reason why BlackBerry is around. I think just jumping to an Android without a thought through of why BlackBerry needs to be around and what makes us relevant and all that, before I answer that question, jumping to anything is inappropriate. You’ll find that I’m a little bit more thoughtful from a marketing perspective then to just go somewhere. I’m not that kind of person. I’ve only been on the clock now for almost 24 hours -- I think that if I made those statements right now conclusively, somebody should pull me out and shoot me."-John Chen, CEO,BlackBerry
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