Canadian vendor Research In Motion has announced that it is to lay off 2,000 staff as part of the cost-cutting programme the firm unveiled in June. The Blackberry manufacturer said that the cuts, which will affect more than ten per cent of its workforce, were “a prudent and necessary step for the long-term success of the company.”
The firm added that its workforce has quadrupled over the past five years as the company has enjoyed rapid growth. Recently, however, the firm has been faring less well. It’s Q211 results (the company’s fiscal Q1) saw net income down to $695m from $934m for the same quarter in 2010.
The costs of the 2,000 redundancies, which the firm said will affect workers in North America as well as other markets, will not be revealed until September 15th.
The firm said in June that it had experienced a “challenging” quarter, with a slowdown in demand affecting delays in new product introductions. The firm’s tablet product, the Playbook, was launched to a mixed reception earlier this year.