BlackBerry said Ralph Pini will serve as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for Devices.
That puts Pini in charge of BlackBerry’s smartphones. Pino takes over for Ron Louks, who recently left the company. Pini’s priorities, according to BlackBerry, are to support customers using BlackBerry 10 handsets but also increase the selection of Android smartphones.
The company believes it can rely on its security tools to increase the appeal of its smartphones over competitive devices.
“BlackBerry is uniquely positioned to elevate Android as a more viable, hardened option to meet the demands of government and enterprise customers who need the highest levels of security. The bottom line, I want to give enterprise decision-makers everything they need,” said Pini.
Pini, who previously helped design the Motorola RAZR, reports to BlackBerry CEO John S. Chen.
