“BlackBerry Ltd. shares slid on Wednesday on the heels of a report that it will lay off up to 40% of its 12,000 workers,” Sue Chang and Saumya Vaishampayan report for MarketWatch.
“BlackBerry shares fell 1.5%. The Canadian company is preparing to reduce its staff by up to 40% by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported,” Chang and Vaishampayan report. “The wireless devices maker has gone through a series of layoffs in recent years in an effort to reduce costs.”
Chang and Vaishampayan report, “The news overshadowed the unveiling of BlackBerry Z30, a smartphone with a 5-inch display, to capitalize on the growing popularity of devices with bigger screens known as ‘phablets.’ The Z30 is scheduled to hit retail stores in the U.K. and the Middle East next week.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Z30’s main distinction is that it may well end up being the last phone DCW ever releases.
It doesn’t get much more “Amateur Hour” than unveiling a new product only to completely obliterate it leaks of with massive layoffs. The Z30 had zero chance before the huge job cuts; now it has a negative chance.
From the ashes of bad news lies possibility of a fresh new start.
Apple inc. managed to do a Phoenix in the 90’s!
Would a small lean mean RIM be inspired to sever its past and start again? I hope they can do so, because that would inspire others in a similar or in start-up mode to press on ahead despite the seemingly insurmountable odds.
Good luck to all the left over staff at RIM! Pin up a poster of Steve Jobs and use that to inspire you.
As nice as that would be Crabapple, I think they’re doing everything they can to make themselves look good to potential buyers. No one wants what very little they have with all that extra weight attached. I hope all those folks are able to find new work quickly.
Apple’s “turn around” was the result of someone (SJ) with a vision and a board that supported that vision. Does anyone see either of these elements existing somewhere for BB? Enough said.
May the co-CEO’s rot in hell.
Crabapple asked seriously “Would a small lean mean RIM be inspired to sever its past and start again?”
I think it could, but would an investor do it?
Apple is still accelerating development of a world class personal information system as fast as they can hire talent. RIM is firing people.
You can’t ramp back up a top notch team in a year. Articles have appeared talking about a lack of programming talent available currently.
My view is RIM won’t be able to get the talent to allow a restart.
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away
@MDN – “DCW”?!?
Doomed Canadian Workers?
I am quite sure the imminent release of Blackberry Messenger app for iOS and Android will turn things around for sure. When they see the widespread adoption of the app and how much manpower it will require to sustain that growing ecosystem, they will hire back 2 or 3 people recently laid off. Sunny days ahead for BB!
I like their strategy! I like it a lot!
There’s just no reason to buy anything from blackberry .
Management spent years denying the fact that touch screens were the way of the future and then thought that everyone wanted a physical keyboard. Look where it got them.
I’m sure management already has golden parachutes ready to go.
All they have to worry about now is who packed the parachute.
More roadkill. Beginning to stink up the place. Body parts from Nokia, Blackberry, Palm, Motohola, et al, stinking up the highway.
These guys screwed the pooch so royally it’s unbelievable.
For years before iPhone, I struggled — with no help from RIM — to get my old BBerrys to work with my Mac. They could not have cared less. Good riddance to a backwards company. Sorry about lost jobs; but RIM never had great products, and always had lousy support especially for mac users.