BlackBerry sales tumble for RIM Sales of BlackBerry smartphones fell dramatically in the latest quarter, with the resignation of Jim Balsillie, the company's former co-chief executive and major shareholder, from the board of Research In Motion underscoring the crisis at the device maker. Mr Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the company's founder and former co-chief executive, had previously remained as directors after handing over the chief executive's job to Thorsten Heins in January after the scale of the problems facing RIM became apparent. In addition to Mr Balsillie, two senior executives are also leaving the company - David Yach, chief technology officer of 13 years, and Jim Rowan, the chief operating officer. "It is now very clear that substantial change is what RIM needs," Mr Heins told analysts on Thursday. He said the company would scale back its value-added consumer services offerings after a 10-week review indicated it would be very difficult to make headway in the area. We believe BlackBerry cannot succeed if we try to be all things to all people, so we intend to focus on our strengths. I recognise these are difficult times for our stakeholders and this is likely to continue for the next few quarters. Mr Heins also said that the group would undertake "a comprehensive review of strategic opportunities including partnerships and joint ventures, licensing, and other ways to leverage RIM's assets and maximise value for our stakeholders." RIM sold 11.1m BlackBerrys in its fiscal fourth quarter, below the 11.2m that analysts had forecast and 21 per cent fewer than in the third quarter. As a result, RIM missed analysts" revenue and profit forecasts. Revenues of $4.19bn were well behind the $4.57bn that analysts had predicted while RIM reported a net loss of $125m and an adjusted profit of $418m or 81 cents a share, slightly lower than the 82 cents analysts had been expecting. Mr Heins said RIM would rollout new BlackBerry 7 devices "in the next few weeks." The company is "committed to regaining market share in the US," he said. In after market trading in the US, RIM shares were down 0.3 per cent at $13.69.