Gartner vice-president Carolina Milanesi tweeted that “RIM's CEO change reminds me of the Nokia Spring reshuffle before [current CEO Stephen] Elop was appointed in September. The reshuffle was not enough for Nokia”.

Mr Heins has replaced founders and co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, although both will remain as directors of the company despite presiding over a 75 per cent decline in its share price over the last year.

The challenges facing Mr Heins, who joined RIM four years ago from Germany manufacturer Siemens, are considerable. RIM's share of the smartphone market in the US dwindled to just 16.6 per cent in the three months to the end of November, according to research firm ComScore.