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.
BlackBerry remains committed to the device business, having
released since September a string of new smartphones aimed at
professionals with more planned for this year. But the Waterloo,
Ontario, company is increasingly betting on new mobile software
aimed at fostering worker productivity and security for
BlackBerrys, Apple iPhones, and devices powered by Google Inc.'s
Android and other operating systems.
Still, BlackBerry's revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended
Feb. 28 fell 32% and the company cautioned then that it didn't
expect sales of its key new device-management software, which was
launched in November, to pick up until the second half of the
company's current fiscal year.
"Our intention is to reallocate resources in ways that will best
enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities while driving
toward sustainable profitability across all facets of our
business," BlackBerry said in a statement announcing the planned
layoffs.
BlackBerry said that it plans to ramp up its sales and marketing
effort, targeting partnerships and new hires as part of this
effort.
Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com
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