BlackBerry cuts staff, discontinues select phones as $1B loss looms

Shawn Knight

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blackberry consumer market

Things have gone from bad to worse and now just flat out disastrous for Canadian handset maker BlackBerry. The once thriving enterprise-minded firm on Friday confirmed rumors that were floating around earlier in the week – the reduction of 40 percent of its workforce, or about 4,500 employees.

Along with the staff cutbacks, BlackBerry warned investors of a quarterly loss between $950 million and $995 million next week. We’re told the loss is mostly related to the write-off of unsold handsets and a $72 million restructuring fee. Two of the six phones in BlackBerry’s current lineup are also getting the axe.

In the breakneck world of smartphones, you either have to innovate or get left in the dust. For BlackBerry, it was the latter. Just four years ago, the company was responsible for 51 percent of the North American smartphone market according to Gartner. Two powerhouses – Apple and Samsung – changed everything over the past four years, however, leaving BlackBerry as a shell of its former self.

Vowing not to go down without a fight, BlackBerry launched a turnaround effort early this year that hinged on the success of the company’s latest mobile operating system known as BlackBerry 10. A handful of modern smartphones accompanied BlackBerry onto the battlefield but it was too late. The war was already over before BlackBerry even realized it had started... much like Palm before it.

Moving forward, BlackBerry said they plan to refocus on the enterprise and prosumer markets. Share value in BlackBerry tanked on the news, dropping more than 17 percent.

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I hate to see blackberry go like this, but they made some stupid design decisions on their attempt to regain some market and they dont really deserve any share....
 
While still commanding a significant market value, BB should sell its business to MS. in lieu of that, BB should strike a deal with MS to produce windows phones. Or let Lenovo buy it.

Going into the android ecosystem would mean that BB is just another small fish in a big ocean dominated by the megalodon Samsung.
 
The Q10 could have been their savior. Too bad it is way too expensive. BB screwed up and now they have to pay for it.
 
Blackberry kinda shot themselves in the leg here .. the Z10 should have been out 3 years ago and that would have saved them. The way I see it, they will stop making mobile phone and focus only on software. In all fairness, the Blackberry Mobile Device Management software is not bad at all and it works across Blackberry / Android / iOS
 
Blackberry kinda shot themselves in the leg here .. the Z10 should have been out 3 years ago and that would have saved them. The way I see it, they will stop making mobile phone and focus only on software. In all fairness, the Blackberry Mobile Device Management software is not bad at all and it works across Blackberry / Android / iOS

What software other than BBM xD?
 
Usability of iOS and Android and what happened to Symbian were warning shots. They just didn't read the writing on the wall. Hard to say if that's good or bad for the ecosystem... maybe bad with how Google controls so much market share now.
 
I'm glad they've thrown in the public towel. All I've ever heard about BlackBerry from the general public for the past year or so is blind "YOU SCREWED UP - YOU SHOULD PAY" hate. People are sadistic. Thank God it's over.
 
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