New York, January 23 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - After struggling to keep afloat the once-iconic company, Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), its co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, have decided to step down. The company's COO Thorsten Heins,  who joined RIMM four years ago, will be replacing them.

Although the Canadian company with its e-mail smartphone had taken the world by a storm, recent flashier touch-screen phones, such as Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy and other models, that use Google’s android software, have lured away U.S. users with the result that RIM has suffered massive setbacks and its market value has slumped by tens of billions of dollars. The company is now valued at $8.9 billion, whereas a few years back its market value was $70 billion.

Last month RIM said that its new phone would not be launched until late this year. Moreover, its  PlayBook tablet failed to gather popular support and had to be deeply discounted to reduce inventories of stores.

Investors and shareholders have been asking for the sale of the company or a shake-up, however they had not anticipated that the two founders would depart so suddenly. The two CEOs said that the time had come for the company to have a new leadership to give it a new direction. Both of them will continue to be on the board with Lazaridis taking on a new role as vice chairman of RIM’s board.