BlackBerry has to jump through hoops to make sure it’s profitable, and if that means laying off a bunch of employees in the company’s device business then so be it. An undisclosed number of employees have been laid off from the division responsible for developing BlackBerry’s smartphone apps and software, all in order to enable the company to “capitalize on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our business.”
BlackBerry Ltd. said Friday it is laying off an undisclosed number of employees in its device business including those focused on development of smartphone software and applications. The move is part of the company’s goal of boosting sales of higher margin mobile-management and security software to reignite growth, it said. The layoffs come after the struggling smartphone maker, which employs about 7,000 people globally, said in April it was considering closing its offices in Sweden, in a move that would put as many as 100 employees out of work. A BlackBerry spokeswoman Friday declined to confirm if the layoffs in Sweden have taken place and if so if they were part of the latest cuts. The job cuts, which affect BlackBerry’s operations globally, underscore the pressure the company faces to keep costs down while it tries to win back its traditional corporate and government customers following a failed attempt in 2013 to compete against Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the consumer smartphone market.
