Newsletter
We’re only in the second month of the new year and BlackBerry isn’t experiencing any good luck thus far. While the BlackBerry Priv was perceived as a possible company saver being their first Android-powered device, new information today points to a less positive reality for the Canadian-based company, as BlackBerry has announced they would be laying off a number of employees in the Waterloo region. These layoffs were thought to amount to around 35 percent of the employees that work at the Waterloo offices, which has a total of about 2,700 employees altogether. According to an updated statement from BlackBerry, though, approximately 200 employees have been hit with layoffs across both the Waterloo and Florida offices for the company, with about 75 employees coming from the Florida area.
According to the source, the team that works on the BlackBerry 10 operating system was the hardest hit, which is odd due to the fact that BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen recently focused on the company’s commitment to their own operating system in a recent blog post. The true reality of it all is that the BlackBerry PRIV will be the device the company places all of their efforts in because Android will be the future operating system of use. Also, to really place the stamp on the end of BlackBerry 10 is the shutdown of the company’s “Built for BlackBerry” certification program. From the looks of things, BlackBerry will soon get rid of BlackBerry 10 entirely while pouring the energy in Android powered devices. With the loss of three cents per share and bringing in $557 million, BlackBerry needs to continue with their turnaround.
In a statement the company released, BlackBerry has plans to continue their company turnaround while maintaining focus on different growth opportunities while bringing in more profit across the entire company. Unfortunately, as a result, a small number of employees in Canada and Florida have been impacted as they try to fix up the company. BlackBerry thanks the hard work those employees gave to the company and are grateful for their efforts. Hopefully BlackBerry can get the ball rolling again as the company makes its transition to devices running Android.