Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie - Agenda Setters 2008
Name: Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
Title: RIM co-CEOs
Position: 27 Last year: Not ranked
Why? Pioneering push email
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Surprising as it may sound, this is the first year on the Agenda Setters list for Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the co-CEOs of BlackBerry-maker RIM.
Their appearance now is a testament to the sticking power of the BlackBerry brand - not least because there has never been more competition in the smart phone space. Yet competition has singularly failed to kill the BlackBerry.
As well as pioneering push email, RIM's BlackBerry continues to be considered the de facto standard for email on the move and is cherished by business people everywhere (CrackBerry anyone?).
RIM's co-CEOs have been pushing mobile email at the mass market too - with consumer-targeted offerings such as the BlackBerry Pearl and a flip phone. And let's not forget this wooing of the mainstream mobile user came long before Steve Jobs showed his iPhone-holding hand.
Long overdue, the Agenda Setters panel picks Lazaridis and Balsillie as the ones to watch in the white-hot mobile space.
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