We have been hearing rumors about RIM doing a large scale layoff as part of their strategy. Thorsten Heins confirmed as much during their last earnings call where he said that it is part of RIM’s initiative to cut down operating costs by a billion dollars by the end of fiscal 2013. Now RIM has confirmed that these headcount reductions are part of this initiative. The Record and other sources claim that these layoffs are mainly going to hit sales and manufacturing which makes sense as RIM winds down the current lines of BlackBerry devices during the ramp up of BlackBerry 10 up to its launch. Here is what RIM said in confirming the layoffs:
“RIM has committed to achieving significant efficiencies and operating cost reductions over the course of this fiscal year. Headcount reductions are part of this initiative.” – Tenille Kennedy (RIM Spokesperson)
The count for this layoff round is rumored to be around 2,000 employees bringing RIM to about 14,500 or so but some rumors have RIM lowering that even further. This is all conjecture for now but we are hearing from some RIM sources about the current layoffs though morale still seems to be positive with some serious pride in BlackBerry 10. To all of you who are leaving RIM we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and we are sad to see you go.
Debby Lee Not Registered
Posted: September 10, 2012 at 1:58 AM EST
It would be a nice gesture if those who were laid off are invited back to work for the company at the earliest opportunity when business picks up later.