The Guy In Charge Of BlackBerry's Failed Tablet Is Leaving The Company

David Smith, the BlackBerry executive in charge of the company's PlayBook tablet, will leave the company, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed.

BlackBerry told the WSJ that Smith is leaving for personal reasons.

However, Smith's departure comes a few weeks after BlackBerry essentially declared its PlayBook tablet dead. The device launched more than two years ago to horrible reviews. Since then, BlackBerry tried to improve the device with software updates and boost sales with dramatic price cuts, but shipments were still dismally low.

BlackBerry said it will not upgrade the PlayBook to its new mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10, despite saying it would a few months ago.

It also looks like BlackBerry has no immediate plans to get back into tablets. Recently, BlackBerry's CEO Thorsten Heins said he thinks smartphones are the future of computing and tablets won't be around in five years.