“THERE comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognise the need to pass the baton to new leadership.” So said Mike Lazaridis, the creator of Research in Motion (RIM), in a press release on January 22nd that announced changes at the top of the company that makes the BlackBerry. Among other things, Mr Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will step down from their positions as co-chief executives of the Canadian firm, handing the reins to Thorsten Heins, one of its co-chief operating officers. Messrs Lazaridis and Balsillie will also relinquish their roles as co-chairmen of RIM's board. Instead, it will be headed by Barbara Stymiest, a former bigwig in Canadian finance.

Some of RIM's shareholders may wish that the baton had been passed on a long time ago. The firm's smartphones are still sold in large numbers, but RIM is being battered by competition from Apple's iPhone and devices that use Google's Android operating system. In the firm's fiscal third quarter, which finished in November 2011, it made a net profit of $265m compared with $911m in the same period of 2010. The share price has fallen by more than 70% in the past year.

RIM's difficulties stem in part from the wider range of choice open to corporate road-warriors who need to be in constant touch with customers and the office. The BlackBerry's secure e-mail has long been a prime selling-point for corporate information-technology departments, but more and more are now willing to support other smartphones. Yet many of the company's wounds are self-inflicted. When its PlayBook tablet appeared last April, it provided e-mail only via a connection to a BlackBerry. Not surprisingly, sales have been disappointing. A new operating system for PlayBooks and BlackBerrys has been delayed. And in October interruptions to services that dragged on for three days had customers hopping mad.

This year will be a critical one for RIM. The PlayBook is due to be revamped and the new operating system is due to be launched. The mobile-phone business can change fast: witness the rise of the iPhone or HTC, or the slide of Nokia and Sony Ericsson as well as RIM. But the company has already lost a lot of ground on its competitors. Too much, perhaps, for Mr Heins to make up.