Research in Motion is axing 2,000 employees, or 10.5 percent of its workers. RIM also rearranged its management, the Canadian company announced. Now that the iPad is trouncing RIM’s PlayBook gamble, how long can the beleaguered company keep its head above water?
Today’s layoff numbers follow a June announcement of planned cuts. RIM said reducing its workforce was part of a “cost optimizing program” that included “prudent and necessary” steps to control and overgrown payroll. However, the effort likely had more to do with getting in fighting shape to take on (so far unsuccessfully) Apple. After outselling the BlackBerry, in June the Cupertino, Calif. company overtook RIM as the most popular U.S. smartphone.
Since a turbulent quarterly report led to a wave a Wall Street write downs and warnings, RIM has thrashed about for some way to avoid the iPhone riptide. Ignoring calls to replace co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, RIM today announced two new COO and the retirement of its current Chief Operating Officer.
Thorsten Heins becomes COO of RIM’s Product and Sales Division, while Jim Rowan becomes COO of Operations (Chief Operating Officer of Operations?) Meanwhile, COO Don Morrison, on temporary medical leave, made his absence more permanent by announcing his retirement.
These executive changes may be the result of the formation of a committee created in light of the internal squabble over the future of RIM co-CEO structure. But are today’s changes only the latest attempt to rearrange the Titanic? Once thought ‘unsinkable,’ RIM has been torpedoed by Apple both in the boardroom and in the consumer marketplace as the BlackBerry’s popularity fades.
