Amidst BlackBerry Z10's failure to gain market share, CEO Thorsten Heins asks for more time

Unless BlackBerry has a spot in your stock portfolio, you probably weren't aware that yesterday the company formerly known as Research In Motion held its annual meeting with investors. Technology being more your turf, we're sure that you are at the very least somewhat aware of BlackBerry's continued struggle to remain relevant.

Unfortunately, the Canadian manufacturer just can't catch a break. Figures from the latest Kantar Worldpanel show a spectacular crash for BlackBerry in the US where its current market share is a depressing 0.7%. In fact, the company doesn't seem to be doing very well anywhere, really, with even the traditionally loyal U.K. customers rapidly dropping the legendary brand – a 7.3% drop from last year, down to 5.3%. The really bad part about all of this, though, is the fact that several BB-branded handsets have exited the production pipeline somewhat recently, and it will take the company some time to attempt a second charge.

Time, precisely, is what Chief Executive Thorsten Heins has asked for, claiming that the team behind the company was “driving day and night to deliver improvements.” Patience, however, seems to be running thin with investors, who have found the strength to cheer the company on in the past, but met Heins with mostly a mute concern. The failure of the Z10 seems to have rattled the nerves of some: “My sense is that the rollout of the Z10 was a disaster.”, a shareholder told the CEO during the meeting. “Were we perfect at the launch? Probably not. Was it a disaster? I don't think so” Heins responded, but admitted that the US is proving to be “an uphill battle.”

Despite Heins' refreshing frankness, we have got to wonder – how many shots does BlackBerry really has left?

source: NYT