BlackBerry Fires 250 Canadian Employees
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250 employees in Waterloo, Ontario, at BlackBerry’s product-testing facility were told they were going to be let go.
Lisette Kwong, a spokeswoman for BlackBerry, said today in an e-mail that the lay-offs are a portion of BlackBerry’s attempt to improve profits. The department affected by the job cuts supports manufacturing, research and development, she said. BlackBerry has about 12,700 employees.
After customers were less than thrilled about the touch-screen Z10, which was introduced in February, BlackBerry decided to scale back. The company is hoping that the Q10, with a physical keyboard like previous devices, will help bring longtime customer on board with the direction of BlackBerry.
Read related content:
- Two More Senior Execs Leave Blackberry
- BlackBerry Q10 Coming to Canada on May 1
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- RIM Announces Corporate Name Change and BlackBerry 10 Release Dates
The Waterloo based company, continues to get ready for more executive departures as retention bonuses expire and Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins sets tougher targets for managers, a person familiar with the matter said this month. David Smith, executive vice president of enterprise mobile computing, has resigned for personal reasons, Kwong said.
CTV News reported the product-testing firings earlier today, and the Wall Street Journal reported Smith’s departure yesterday.
