RIM is experiencing dark times; all hopes rest on the BlackBerry Z10 to see the company out of its slumber. But that is not stopping CEO Thorsten Heins from striking a jab at the competition.

In a recent interview with the Australian Financial Review, Heins took the opportunity to attack Apple for failing to innovate enough in the mobile space.

"The rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don't innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly," says Heins in his interview with the Australian Financial Times. "The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about, is now five years old."

Heins went on to note that Apple should be given credit for shifting focus to touchscreen devices when it launched the first iPhone device. He claims Apple did a fantastic job and that he respects the Cupertino giant for what it did in the mobile space.

"Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market ... They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that," Heins said.

But Heins believes BlackBerry 10 is a far superior operating system compared to Apple's offering. He pointed out the iPhone's inability to multi-task properly as one of the major problems facing Apple. With BlackBerry 10 devices, users can multi-task the same way they do on a laptop, which is very important for power users.

With those strong words against Apple, Heins sees no other path than that RIM and BlackBerry 10 will succeed. However, it won't be easy, as he must first contend with Windows Phone, which BlackBerry 10 is fighting to control third position.