BlackBerry makers cut 2,000 jobs in Canada

BlackBerry makers Research in Motion (RIM) on Monday slashed 2,000
jobs in Waterloo in Canada thus bringing its total workforce to
17,000. Soon after the news broke out, arch rival iPhone's shares shot
up considerably.
SITUATION WAS tense at the BlackBerry headquarters in Waterloo in
Canada when the parent company, Research In Motion (RIM) axed almost
11 per cent of its total workforce worldwide on Monday. The
technological giant, which introduced the world to smart phones,
brought down its workforce to 17,000 after giving 2,000 employees the
pink slip.
The cut, which is undoubtedly the steepest in the company's history,
saw the employees being fired from its 9000 strong staff from the
headquarters in Waterloo.
Local newspapers were quoted saying that dozens of cabs were
dispatched to company offices in Cambridge and Waterloo, where
employees were escorted out of the door by security guards - moments
after getting their layoff notices. Clutching manila folders, about 50
workers were led to waiting taxis, which drove them home.
The report further stated that if anyone was panicking within RIM on
the day the company announced its worst job losses since its creation
in 1984, no one would admit it publicly. The troubled high-tech firm,
which employs about 9,000 locally, has laid off people before - 200
last month and another 220 nine years ago - but it's never faced a
slashing of jobs like this.
Soon after the news broke out, BlackBerry's arch rival iPhone recorded
heavy upsurge in its shares.

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