CEO Gaffe of the Week: Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY)

To the corner, Mr. Heins
Well, at least the BB faithful that are eagerly awaiting their active keyboard Q10 are going to get their phones at the same time, right? Buzzzzzzz. Incorrect, please try again!

Would you really be shocked by now if I noted that there was yet another delay in the works because of “domestic carrier testing” on the Q10 keyboard? “How long?” you ask? How about another eight to 10 weeks after the Z10 release (Heins’ “best guess”). This means it could be another four months and change before BlackBerry even begins rolling out its full line of products in the U.S. By then, Apple will be readying for what’s become the yearly launch of a new iPhone product in the late summer/early fall, and Samsung will almost certainly be gearing up to release another version of its Android-based Galaxy series around the same time. Perhaps the only competitive chance BlackBerry had of regaining market share was in launching as far away from an Apple or Samsung launch as possible — and it even screwed that up!

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” goes the saying. Does anyone know what wisdom can be learned by Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) trying to fool the Street around a half dozen times with its BB10 timeline? Feel free to post your answer in the comment section below!

Do you have a CEO you’d like to nominate for this dubious honor? Shoot me an email and a one- or two-sentence description of why your choice deserves next week’s nomination, and you just may see your suggestion in the spotlight.

The article CEO Gaffe of the Week: BlackBerry originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. He is merciless when it comes to poking fun at dubious CEO antics. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

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