The current BlackBerry Malaysia Managing Director, Annamalai Muthu(picture) has resigned. He is will be replaced by Ben Quirin who has assumed the role of Managing Director for Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
In response to MalaysianWireless, a BlackBerry spokesperson made the following comment:
“I can confirm that Annamalai Muthu has decided to leave his position at BlackBerry. We thank him for his contribution to building BlackBerry’s business here in Malaysia and wish him well for the future. Ben Quirin has assumed the role of Managing Director for Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Ben recently moved with his family to Malaysia, following seven years of service with the BlackBerry Middle East & Africa team. Ben successfully grew the brand presence and sales channels in several emerging markets in Africa, making him an ideal candidate to lead our business in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.”
Last month, BlackBerry announced a tentative acquisition deal with Fairfax Financial Holdings that values the smartphone maker at $4.7 billion. A few days later, the company reported a $965 million quarterly loss off disappointing sales of its line of BlackBerry 10 devices. In a bid to cut lost, the Canadian-based smartphone maker also announced that it plans to cut more than 4,500 jobs.
Annamalai Muthu(better known as Muthu) joined Research in Motion(now BlackBerry) in early 2010 as the Finance Director for Asia Pacific & Emerging Nations. In this role, he helped to guide the teams through strategic investment and country focus plans. In this same role, he established RIM’s global finance teams in India, Australia, China and Singapore.
In September 2011, he was appointed Managing Director for Malaysia & Brunei. As Country Director, Muthu leads a small team(but effective) to grow the BlackBerry brand across Malaysia.
During his time in Malaysia, Muthu has played an important role to establish a local entity in Malaysia to further develop its business within the country. Research In Motion Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the local entity, provides carrier and distributor partners throughout Malaysia with sales and marketing support. The office is located at Menara Milenium, Pusat Bandar Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Muthu and his team then appointed Brightpoint, Inc., the second BlackBerry distributor in Malaysia to expand distribution and support of BlackBerry smartphones, software and accessories.
Among the BlackBerry smart devices and marketing campaigns that were launched in Malaysia during his time include BlackBerry PlayBook, BlackBerry Curve 9220, Stop Missing Out! campaign, BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981, BlackBerry Curve 9320, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry JamHack 2012, BlackBerry Music Mania Concert and Carnival, BlackBerry 10 OS, BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry Q5, and the recent BlackBerry Z30(where Malaysia is one of the first country in the world to launch it).
Muthu has over 10 years of experience in finance and sales in the IT and telecommunications fields. Prior to joining RIM, Muthu held senior positions at leading companies such as Dell and Twin Cities Financial Corporations. Muthu graduated with a MBA from University of Minnesota, St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA.
P.s: MalaysianWireless would like to thank Muthu for his hard work and wishes him all the best!
