
RIM to cut 40% of workforce as another top exec resigns - verra
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/28/rim_to_cut_40_of_workforce_as_another_top_exec_resigns.html
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codedivine
As a sidenote, all the cheering and celebration that goes on in the techpress
when a company dies is somewhat disgusting. I don't understand why a large
section of tech industry wants RIM or Nokia etc to fail. I would rather them
see them succeed, see them build something cool and have more and fun things
to play with.

edit: I think we can safely conclude that hackers are about as human and as
fallible as any other group. We have our own fashions and our own tabloids.

~~~
Danieru
Except these layoffs are not what killed the company.

The company has been dead for a while, reality is just slow to adjust.

Do not think of it as a company dieing but rather thousands of brilliant souls
being released from enslavement.

~~~
kabdib
Having worked for a large "dead, but didn't know it yet" company in the past:
Yup. In the later layoffs, when they had run out of dead wood and were cutting
into great, productive workers, it was entirely unclear who the lucky people
were. I heard of people getting axed on a thursday who were working at a new
place the next week, with higher pay.

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phillmv
I wish they weren't failing. I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if
thousands of Waterloo grads suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly
looking for a job, somewhat cooling down the Canadian developer job market.

~~~
edwinnathaniel
Engineers gone through a round of lay-off already. This time is all non-
engineers.

~~~
sliverstorm
Classic. "Who should we fire _first_? Oh, I know! The people who develop the
only products we sell, that's who!"

~~~
runako
Obviously sarcasm, but in reality this is not crazy. For RIM's problem is they
don't know _what_ to build, not that they are incapable of shipping
_something_. Burning cash having engineers build the wrong thing is not
obviously any more correct.

------
icki
Every single one of these articles has provided no sources for these layoff
figures. Sure, many of the C-Level's and SVP's have been leaving their
Waterloo coop, but isn't it expected when the company has recently suffered
under the current management? Surely RIM still needs it's employees to support
BB7 (with devices still being launched globally [1]), while also building BB10
their next-gen OS.

Sure, their might be another round of layoffs. But almost half the company?
Doubt it.

[1] [http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/blackberry-
curve-9320-...](http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/blackberry-
curve-9320-price-features-review/1/184873.html)

~~~
aclements18
Seems very feasible if they are positioning themselves to be acquired. With
40% of your workforce gone you no longer have a business, you just have a
bunch of assets. I would be surprised if they are still and independent,
publicly traded company by the end of 2012.

Unfortunate, they had a lot of smart people working for them, but the dual-ceo
structure ensured they would never be decisive enough to take big risks on
innovation.

~~~
GoodIntentions
>> With 40% of your workforce gone you no longer have a business, you just
have a bunch of assets.

Some people might argue you have 40% less assets. ( But I get where you're
coming from.. )

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DigitalSea
I find it ironic that a company called Research In Motion is going backwards
as a company rather than forwards. People seem to be championing the fall of
RIM and although it is their fault for being an arrogant player in the
enterprise sector, it's sad to see them fail like this. While they're not dead
yet, it is probably bound to happen eventually unless RIM is taken in a new
direction by a CEO with balls to be a leader and not a follower trying to
mimic the success of Apple's iPhone like everyone seems to be doing.

I also find it disturbing that tech outlets like Apple Insider, TechCrunch and
a few other majors are basically cheering that RIM is the way it is, it's sort
of disgusting to see so many supposed experts in the technology journalist
field so happy to see a company like RIM fail. Arrogance aside, RIM still make
great products, they just need to adapt to the changing market a bit better,
ask people what they want.

~~~
edwinnathaniel
"What I find ironic is that analysts who are sitting in this room will
criticize this company while typing out that criticism on a BlackBerry," one
shareholder said to laughs from the audience, "And I think that that’s the
most self-serving, most despicable activity on this planet," he said.

Read more:
[http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Canadians+follow+take+p...](http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Canadians+follow+take+pity+local+hero/5160396/story.html#ixzz1wEUxicWF)

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aaront
While I don't use any RIM products personally, the Canadian in me wants to see
them turn around this slump and be innovative again.

~~~
btipling
I think there is room for three great smartphone platforms and I hope Windows
Phone isn't one of them. So I'm rooting for RIM.

~~~
mark_story
What's actually wrong with Windows Phone other than it came from MS? From what
I've seen of it, its a well designed well executed mobile OS. You can't really
say the same of the recent blackberry os releases.

~~~
btipling
Because that's just one more smartphone OS that will never support app
development from anything other than their own creator's platform, i.e.
Windows and Visual Studio or Mac OS X and Xcode. The world doesn't need this
horrible, closed-system, innovation killing, walled gardens crap anymore.

~~~
mark_story
That's a totally fair point. Sadly I think iOS' success just compels other
manufacturers to follow suit.

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codedivine
Well, people are too quick to jump on any stories blasting RIM nowadays. We
should rename HN to "Questionable Hacker Rumors".

For one, it is a rumor. Apple Insider isn't exactly known for well placed
sources inside RIM.

Second, even if we were to take this at face value, read the text: "The
layoffs will affect the company's legal, marketing, sales, operations, and
human resources divisions, a source said." Not that engineering isn't
mentioned. That is a good cutting of cruft.

~~~
corin_
This may go against what lots of tech. people like to think (it's certainly a
much sexier idea to think of a good company as one run by and only employing
hackers), but just for the record there are people in many departments,
including legal, marketing, sales, operations and HR, who are both talented
and useful at companies.

The fact that RIM clearly has a lot of cruft to cut doesn't mean that a.) that
cruft is all, or even mostly, outside their technical staff or that b.) of the
non-technical cruft, those getting fired are part of it.

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siculars
I mean, "research" is in your name and I ask you what innovative research and
development have you done lately?

R.I.P. R.I.M.

~~~
cleaver
I don't think they lack in research, or at least spending on research. I think
the main thing they lack is a culture of innovation. They sat on their laurels
as the market leader and they avoided cannibalizing any of their revenue
streams.

~~~
mtgx
That's a good point. Many companies are either too unfocused with their
research, so whatever they are researching is almost completely irrelevant to
their business, or even if they do invent something innovative, it's the
managers who don't give the invention any chance for fear they might disrupt
their current businesses.

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jaems33
It went from a rumor of around 2000 workers a few days ago to around 6500.

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uvTwitch
That's what happens when your research is no longer in motion.

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recoiledsnake
This is really sad. Their dev tools were really horrible though and they
weren't able to come out from their nice of mail and messaging which other
smartphones started doing as well if not better leading to a BYOD(Bring your
own device) culture at the workplace. Who wants to carry two phones and keep
them charged?

On the bright side, they're still making money with a steady and increasing
BIS revenue stream, BBM is getting popular in Europe and Asia and BB10 is on
the horizon, I doubt it can save them unless BB10 is leaps and bounds better
than the rivals. They have improved the user experience and the dev tools, but
remember what happened to Palm with their excellent WebOS, it's really hard to
sell phones because of network effects and few available apps(chicken and egg
problem).

~~~
cleaver
I looked at doing BB development when it was it's prime. It was too expensive
to get into and the cost of a BB enterprise server was prohibitive for a amall
shop.

~~~
andrewpi
It's been a while since I've looked into it, but last I looked, all the
required tools were free/open-source, and the only requirement to be a
BlackBerry developer is/was a $20 signing key.

~~~
oz
I believe signing keys are now free.

