RIM’s unveiling of its new CEO Thorsten Heins (pictured) yesterday was met with a lukewarm response from analysts and investors – with many fearing that the board shake-up may not be sufficient to address the firm’s problems.

On a conference call announcing his appointment, Heins declared that there would be no “drastic change” in the firm’s direction.

He replaces the much-criticised co-CEO pairing of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who will both remain on the board – and some believe their ongoing influence will prevent Heins from implementing radical changes.

“It’s hard to see how this change can impact the company’s course,” Ittai Kidron, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said in a research note yesterday. “RIM’s previous leadership is still involved so their influence is there and important. We believe this could make it difficult for Mr. Heins to make changes without their approval.”

“There was enormous pressure for the company to make a change, and Jim and Mike wanted to make as little change as possible,” added Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co., told Bloomberg. “To me, this change looks largely cosmetic.”

According to Bloomberg, shares in RIM slipped 8.5 percent to US$15.56 at the close in New York yesterday after rising as high as US$18.29 in early trading.

Heins said one of his first tasks is to hire a Chief Marketing Officer to overhaul the firm’s marketing message. “We’ll continue to be technology driven, but we will focus more on consumer marketing,” he said.

He also noted that he would “entertain discussions” on the possibility of licensing the BlackBerry platform to third-parties but said this was not his “number one focus.”