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BlackBerry employees and natural economy
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    BlackBerry Ltd. is preparing for deep staff cuts - 40% of its employees — by the end of the year, people familiar with the matter said.

    The layoffs will cut across all departments and occur in waves, likely affecting several thousand workers, the people said. BlackBerry had 12,700 employees as of March, the last time it disclosed a total number.

    Smaller rounds of layoffs began earlier this summer, mostly from the sales and research-and-development divisions, and follow the loss of 5,000 jobs last year. Some employees have been told which of the new waves of cuts will affect them, one of the people said.

    The cuts come a month after BlackBerry announced that it had formed a special board committee to review strategic alternatives that could include a sale of the company.

    The board is looking to conduct a speedy sale process that could be wrapped up as early as November, according to people familiar with the matter.

    I think it is time for them to learn to live on natural economy principles. Grow potatoes guys.

    Via: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323808204579083250005557232.html

  • 12 Replies sorted by
  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    The layoff makes it easier to sell the company. This is how the clueless Motorola executives decimated themselves as well, downsizing, spinning off and selling parts of the company responsible for products targeting markets they either no longer understood or never understood to begin with.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    The layoff makes it easier to sell the company.

    I think it is more correct to say it so - it makes more easy corrupt and inapt managers to sell remains of the company to other incapable managers and bankers :-)

  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    Yeah, that does cut to the heart of it.

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    Writing has been on the wall for BlackBerry...for a long long time.

  • ppcroftppcroft

    Adieu BlackBerry. I will miss the keyboard, mail and encryption (only to the point of not needing a VPN)..

    Pure smartphone hardware manufacturers (even though RIM was not one) will be increasingly capable of failures and most will fail because today's smartphone is only half hardware and the other half is usable content/interface/solutions/ecosystems, which is an area only Google and Apple have it covered. Exceptions may be a Samsung with their vast diverse expertise in crucial hardware and huge global retail marketing leverage, but they seriously are dependent on Google. Google is sitting pretty with their side of expertise, with their R&D budget less exposed to potential and costly misadventures into hardware side.

    I feel the next decade of smartphone market will be the face-off and/or coalition between Google, Samsung and Chinese manufacturers.

    No Apple? I feel they could become a victim of their own success unless innovations can do it for them once again.

  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    It's all about the software. And by software I mean apps. Cellphone hardware is only as important as its ability to deliver the best app experience and the apps people actually want to use.

    Until the iPhone and the first Android phone actually using a phone for anything but text or phone calls was dreadful, because none of these phone manufacturers understand software or creating a good user experience. Now they're mobile computers that can also make phone calls and it's the software companies that are, like with all other computers, the key.

    Blackberry lost in the race to bring compelling software to mobile. They lead the pack so long as their competition was just a pack of other user stupid hardware companies. It was trivial. Then they were too prideful to meet the challenge from Apple and then Google.

    Apple will always be in the picture so long as iOS offers apps people want, apps they can't get on Android. The other manufacturers will be in the picture by default because they'll support either Android or Windows mobile, or both. Not because of their hardware though. Not directly. They're just a better or cheaper means to run Android and, more importantly, Android apps. Their repeated attempts to create proprietary hardware distinction are relapse behaviors and ultimately offer little value to customers.

    The Chinese will be involved for sure since they're very good at making disposable technology. Ultimately that's all the hardware is, completely disposable. And that's part of its problem from a socio-economic perspective. They're really insidious devices.

    They sure aren't improving the experience of making an actual phone call.

  • gamebgameb

    Good moment to buy cheap BBs. I love the phone, I use it basically for communication, no apps-shit, just writing sms, emails, whatsapp etc. cannot stand touchscreen for writing.

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @gameb If speedy writing is your thing, you should try the android keyboards that let you slide your finger over keys and words pop up on screen correctly. Actually quicker than blackberry. Even 2 finger typing quicker on android screen once used to it. Takes 1-2 weeks to get hang of it. Saves time. I use Samsung Galaxy S3. Works for me. Might be worth checking out if speed is goal. I do agree 99% of apps are time wasters.

  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    Yeah, most apps are time wasters but that's what's driving these phones. There's no reason for duel-core and quad-core phones with big screens except for apps. None. Otherwise, folks would be perfectly happy running around with Tracfone "burners" and not spending $200, $300, $500 and $600 on devices to send SMS and make calls that drop and/or sound no better than on the burner, often worse.

    I've got an HTC Evo 3D. Stupid phone. But I wanted a 4G with a decent screen made of metal and glass and wasn't going to spend $600 on an iPhone. The app I use most is Waze because it's the first GPS I've used that's better than my Garmond or any of the built-in systems I've seen in new cars.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @BurnetRhoades

    Btw, out of budget things LG Thrill being 3D phone is also not bad :-) Old, but not so bad.

  • ppcroftppcroft

    Mobile apps need not get such bad press. Admittedly majority of the apps can be termed as time wasters, but if wasting time is the objective, then they are handy. Games as low as 99 cents trumps games available on other handheld gaming only console options anytime.

    Apps also come with features not found in the traditional PC by taking advantage of the built in features of the handset like camera, GPS, gyroscope, touch etc. to give possibilities outside the strength of a typical PC. Of course apps still not measure up in all the ways to the desktop or laptop applications but if you add true mobility that apps enjoy, they are a life saver in many an occasion.

    As for increasing processing power, lots of reasons to have it. HD movie playback, recording, nifty camera features etc. all need it.

  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    Yeah, the 3D part was more of an, "okay, that might be a neat toy" but not involved in the purchase. I've shot maybe a dozen pictures with it and a couple of videos. They didn't include any tools to export as anaglyph versions so that they were useful or viewable on anything but the phone itself.

    It was literally the only phone available to me at the time of purchase (a little over a year ago) with 4G that wasn't also a plastic-y toy that made me angry upon touching them and looking at the sticker. Little did I know at the time, my bad, 4G Wimax was garbage and using either it or WiFi to use the phone for anything but a phone meant you could literally watch the battery meter animate to the right. Its antennas are trash as well. It constantly fails trying to send SMS. It'll be the one and only HTC I ever buy, most likely.

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