RIM 'to cut 2,000 jobs'

Research in Motion, is preparing for a major restructuring that will see it eliminate at least 2,000 jobs worldwide from its roster of 16,500, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper says.

The newspaper cited several people close to the company saying that the next round is layoffs is planned for around Friday 1 June – a day before the smartphone maker's first financial quarter ends – though some expect the announcement even earlier.

One source close to the company told Reuters that the impending layoffs could hit as many as 6,000 people and affect legal, marketing, sales, operations, and HR operations. "The strategic question is: are you accelerating into a better future or shrinking to a niche operation?" said the source.

A string of high-level employees have departed RIM recently, including global head of sales Patrick Spence, who is set to take a senior job at networked audio company Sonos.

Several sources close to the company told Reuters that RIM had been letting more junior staff go for several months in what has come to be known internally as "Goodbye Thursdays", because the cuts typically occurred on that day of the week.

A RIM spokeswoman contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the report. RIM and its new chief executive, Thorsten Heins, are struggling with what looks like a perfect storm of problems.

The BBX 10 software to power a new generation of BlackBerry phones is not expected until autumn, while existing users are abandoning BlackBerry phones for models from Apple or those using Android more quickly than new ones are coming aboard.

Added to that, price competition – also driven by the burgeoning number of Android smartphones – is eroding the prices that RIM can charge, putting extra pressure on its finances. And its PlayBook tablet, launched a year ago, has sold slowly while costing the company billions first in inventory and then in writedowns.

As a result, RIM's stock has plummeted so that on Thursday it touched $10.59 (£6.75) – an eight-year low. Though it recovered to $11 on Friday, the company's value has dropped steadily from $60 in February 2011
A RIM spokeswoman pointed to comments that Heins and chief financial officer Brian Bidulka made on RIM's last earnings call about plans to streamline operations and save $1bn in the financial year.

RIM reported a fourth-quarter loss in March, when the new chief executive announced the initial steps in a strategic overhaul. Heins took over from longtime co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie in January.
Horace Dediu, who runs the consultancy Asmyco, has repeatedly observed that mobile phone companies that fall into loss – even once – never recover their former position.

He restated the point on Sunday night on Twitter, pointing out that Motorola Mobility had become the latest to fulfil that trend after being acquired by Google.
RIM has already been through one round of restructuring. Last July it announced plans to cut about 11% of its workforce, or 2,000 jobs.

LTE BlackBerry PlayBook Coming This Year

 

RIM is keeping the PlayBook party going. While speaking at a BlackBerry World breakfast with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins stated the company plans to launch an LTE-enabled PlayBook by the end of the year. However, the CEO didn’t detail the projected release date, price or available wireless carrier.

This is a smart move for RIM. Rather than spending the time and resources producing another tablet, RIM is instead concentrating efforts on making sure upcoming software works on existing hardware. During a recent trip Rim’s Waterloo campus, the company made it clear to TechCrunch that it is very much committed to bringing BlackBerry 10 to the PlayBook.

The PlayBook has actually aged quite well. The computing hardware and screen is still competitive to current tablets on the market. BlackBerry 10 would likely make existing PlayBook owners very happy although by the time the OS hits later this year, companies and consumers might shy away from the older tablet. But as long as the 4G PlayBook isn’t tied to a two-year contract like other carrier-sold tablets, RIM might be able to sell several to those still addicted to their crackberrys.

 

The BlackBerry PlayBook (launched April 2011) has multi-touch capacitive 7-inch display, 1GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, an e-reader app, and the ability to tether to a BlackBerry phone. The PlayBook runs Flash 10.1 and HTML 5 along with supporting 1080p hardware accelerated video. There’s Micro HDMI and Micro USB connections, along with a 3MP front and 5MP rear-facing camera. That HDMI connection can even output video to dual displays.

Tips On Typing Faster With Your Blackberry

The focus of the BlackBerry platform is communications, and the keyboard on your BlackBerry device serves that purpose well. The keyboard has gotten better and better, too, which makes for faster typing. But unless you're following these quick tips, you're not reaching your typing speed potential.

1. Don't use a period:
One major difference between your BlackBerry keyboard and your desktop keyboard is that you have to shift to hit a period. That can be a pain, since it's the most common punctuation mark. But you don't have to hit Alt+M to get a period. Just hit the space bar twice and your BlackBerry will insert one for you.

2. Skip the shift key:
As on your desktop keyboard, you have to shift on your BlackBerry to get a capital letter. Well, not really. If you just hold down the letter, your BlackBerry will turn it into a capital.


3. Don't type the @ or . in an email address:
When you manually type in an email address, you don't have to hit the shift key to get the @ or the . symbol. Just hit the space-bar. Your BlackBerry will insert the @ symbol after the first space, and a . after each additional space.