It’ been just over a couple of weeks since former Research in Motion Co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, resigned from the board.  Although rumors have floated around as to why he stepped down, it hasn’t been completely clear until now.

According to a report by Reuters, Balsille “sought to reinvent the BlackBerry smartphone maker with a radical shift in strategy” that apparently didn’t go over all that well with other board members.

“The plan would have let the carriers use the RIM network to offer inexpensive data plans, limited to social media and instant messaging, to entice low-tier customers to upgrade from no-frills phones to smartphones.”

Ballsille wanted to shift RIM’s focus to RIM’s high-margin network services as a distinct offering from the BlackBerry handset business.

This plan would have allowed carriers to offer low-end non-BlackBerry smartphones that use RIM’s proprietary network for inexpensive, limited data plans that could access Twitter, Facebook, and BlackBerry Messenger along with other social media platforms.

I don’t know that is fair to say that RIM is putting all of its eggs in the next-generation BlackBerry 10 basket, but, it appears that they are putting a lot more eggs in than what Mr. Balsillie was comfortable with which ultimately led to his stepping down.

[via Reuters]