Home
Mobiles
Mobiles News
BlackBerry cuts 250 jobs in Canada

BlackBerry cuts 250 jobs in Canada

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 26 July 2013 12:46 IST

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry has fired 250 employees in a new product testing division at its Canadian headquarters, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

"BlackBerry on Tuesday informed 250 employees of their termination" in Waterloo, Ontario, spokeswoman Lisette Kwong told AFP.

"These employees were part of the New Product Testing Facility, a department that supports BlackBerry's manufacturing and R&D (research and development)efforts," she said.

Blackberry Discussion

Explore More...

While BlackBerry helped create a culture of mobile users who were glued to the company's smartphones, many of those customers have since moved to Apple or other smartphone makers such as Samsung, mainly using the Google Android operating system.

A recent survey showed BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market shrank to 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

In a turnaround bid, the company unveiled a new platform in January, as it dropped the corporate name Research in Motion to rebrand as BlackBerry.

New smartphones based on its new BlackBerry 10 platform were seen as the company's best hope at regaining traction after suffering staggering losses in market share in recent years.

But an unexpected first quarter loss and disappointing sales figures posted last month sent its share price plunging.

The latest staff cuts, said Kwong, are "part of the next stage of our turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale our company correctly for new opportunities in mobile computing."

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Further reading: BlackBerry, BlackBerry mobiles, mobiles

Google discloses it paid $966 million for Waze

Citymaps aims to make maps social

BlackBerry cuts 250 jobs in Canada

Related Stories