Mike Kirkup, Research In Motion's senior director of global developer relations, announced his resignation on his personal blog.
"The mobile space continues to change so quickly and this seems like a great time to step back and consider my next steps," Kirkup said.
Research In Motion (RIM), which makes the BlackBerry line of smartphones, has trailed Apple and Google in attracting software developers to its technology. The company is planning to sell models that can run Google Android applications, sources say. As of July, there were more than 250,000 apps available from Google's Android Market, or about six times as many as in RIM's App World.
RIM shares have fallen 44 per cent this year. The stock rose US$1.82 (NZD$2.13) to US$32.55 (NZD$38.06) on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
RIM's share of the global smartphone-software market dropped to 12 per cent in the second quarter from 19 per cent a year earlier, according to Gartner. Over the same period, Android rose to 43 per cent of the market. Apple, which makes the iPhone, climbed to 18 per cent from 14 per cent.
