Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), which makes BlackBerry smartphones, has announced that it aims to reduce operating costs by one billion dollars per year, which means significant layoffs, according to Bloomberg. “RIM is committed to achieve significant efficiency improvement and reduce operating costs during this fiscal year. Reducing the number of employees is part of this initiative,” said company spokesman, Tenille Kennedy.
RIM has previously announced that one of the measures to lower costs by 1 billion dollars a year is reducing the number of manufacturing facilities. One of the main suppliers of company recently announced that it will cease production for BlackBerry due to RIM’s strategy to streamline the supply chain. RIM reorganization could affect between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs, estimated analysts from Northern Securities in Toronto, under the premise that 30% of announced cost reductions will be achieved by measures of labor and human resources. The move would add to the 2,000 layoffs announced last year.
RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) shares fell 61% in the last 12 months due to poor performance of the BlackBerry in a market dominated by Apple and smartphones with the Android platform. RIM wants to launch this year a new range of phones based on the BlackBerry 10 operating system, in the hope to regain market share.
Nokia recently announced it will eliminate up to 10,000 jobs and will close several manufacturing and research centers. The Finnish company also has serious problems on different market segments, including the premium niche dominated by Apple and the low-cost sector where Samsung has a significant lead. Wall Street Journal writes, citing sources close to the company, that RIM has been starting a few weeks ago to lay off groups of at least 10 employees.
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