(Image Source: Newsleaks)
BY: KYLIE MCGIVERN
ANCHOR: CHRISTINA HARTMAN
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In a sink or swim market, Blackberry maker Research In Motion has announced they are cutting more than 2,000 jobs to stay afloat.
That’s more than 10 percent of the company’s total workforce.
“All of this couldn’t come at a worse time for RIM, whose rivals Apple and Google are making great strides with their mobile initiatives. Over the past 12 months, Apple’s stock has jumped 35 percent, and Google has gained 15 percent. Meanwhile, Research In Motion stock is down 42 percent over that same time period.”
AppleInsider says - people knew layoffs were on the horizon, just not the scope of them.
“RIM initially announced its plans to initiate layoffs in June, but declined to reveal exactly how much of its workforce would be axed. The company has seen sharply lower profits while its products have struggled against competitors like Apple ... Even the U.S. government, which had embraced the BlackBerry for years, is said to have turned to Apple and adopted the iPhone and iPad.”
RIM put out a press release on the issue, explaining...
“The workforce reduction is believed to be a prudent and necessary step for the long term success of the company and it follows an extended period of rapid growth within the company whereby the workforce had nearly quadrupled in the last five years alone...”
But a ZDNet blogger says the RIM’s weakness isn’t with personnel issues.
“RIM needs to get on the board with new products more than anything. RIM needs a hit device more than cost cutting moves ... RIM has missed key inflection points in the smartphone industry. Specifically, RIM has wrestled with the software integration with its hardware. In the meantime, RIM’s market share in the smartphone industry continues to erode.”
Adding to the shakeup - more changes in the company’s management.
“The company's longtime chief operating officer, who had gone on medical leave, has now retired, again, for medical reasons, and so Thorsten Heins is taking a greater role as Chief Operating Officer. They have a number of COOs at the company already, but the reason to give more guidance on what their management team looks like is because RIM has been losing some of their senior executives recently, namely to rivals like Samsung.”
RIM’s Co-CEOs have taken flack for the company’s decline, but their jobs remain secure - for now. A Minyanville blogger says, that’s an injustice.
“...rather than taking out the folks up top directly responsible for the sinking ship, RIM is getting rid of the crew scrambling to keep the vessel afloat and adding responsibilities to those who shattered the hull in the first place.”
RIM says more details about the layoff’s financial impact will be released when the company reports Q2 results on September 15th.
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