BlackBerry CEO: In 5 Years, We Won’t Have Need for Tablets Anymore

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins believes the future need for tablets will be eliminated, as he believes they don’t make good business models, speaking with Bloomberg:

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,”

[…]

“Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

Heins says the company will not pursue a BlackBerry PlayBook successor unless they can deliver something unique in a crowded market. The company took a $485 million write-off on the PlayBook in December of 2011, as sales of the hyped tablet were disappointing. Wall Street punished the stock 9.74% immediately after the announcement.

The CEO went on to say in five years, he envisions “BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing,” as part of their plans to regain market share–“but not by being a copycat.”

Heins took over as president and CEO back in January of 2012, replacing former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis after they both resigned. Below is a video the company used to introduce the new CEO at the time:

BlackBerry aims to make itself relevant again with recent launches of the Z10 and upcoming Q10 coming soon.

Apple sold 19.5 million iPads in its most recent quarter, a 65% increase compared to the year ago quarter. Is Heins onto something here we don’t know about?