Co-founders/CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie succumb to pressure.
The duo will continue to sit on the board but will not have any operational role.
What an ignominious end for two visionary execs who founded the BlackBerry maker in 1984, and turned its signature device from a tech-centric enterprise-only email terminal into a global consumer phenomenon.
But, as we all know, that vision came unstuck in a horrible 2011, blighted by service outages, falling market share, product delays and the abysmal performance of its first tablet, PlayBook.
All this merely speeded up what had already been a growing trend - the switch by millions of users to iOS and Android.
So the pressure grew on the founders, and today they have been replaced by COO Thorsten Heins.
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Lazaridis said: "There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognise the need to pass the baton to new leadership.
"Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now."
Now it's up to Heins, and the firm's new chair Barbara Stymiest, to turn things round. Doubters are pointing to the fact that both are insiders – they each started at RIM in 2007 – but time will tell.
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