BlackBerry lays off 250 at testing facility

BlackBerry

Rumours that more layoffs were coming to BlackBerry have turned out to be true. The company today confirmed the layoff of 250 employees at its product testing facility in Waterloo, Ontario. Involved in a number of manufacturing and research and development support roles, they got their notice on Tuesday.

According to company spokeswoman Lisette Kwong:

“This is part of the next stage of our turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale our company correctly for new opportunities in mobile computing. We will be as transparent as possible as those plans evolve.”

BlackBerry launched its new BlackBerry 10 operating platform at the start of the year. It has since launched three new BlackBerry 10 devices, the Z10, the Q10 (our review) and the Q5 and is expected to launch at least one more, the A10 (codename Aristo) before the end of the year. Whether it is enough to help it begin to turn its fortunes around remains to be seen. BlackBerry recorded a US$84 milllion loss in the last quarter and is expected to announce another this quarter, suggesting that its turnaround is proving to be a difficult endeavour.



Source : CBC News