More pink slips on the horizon at RIM?

Early this month, at BlackBerry World Conference RIM revealed bits and pieces of the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS in a couple of videos. But there still is not a precise launch date for the OS and the first device that it will be running. Instead, RIM's marketing department is trying to help you convince your IT Manager to update your older BlackBerry that you use in the workforce to a newer BlackBerry 7 OS model. Hardly a sign that BlackBerry 10 is going to be a smash hit when launched. Even worse, sources inside the beleaguered Canadian based smartphone manufacturer tell All Things "D" that as many as 2,000 RIM employees will soon be getting laid off.

The All Things "D" tipster says that there will be some executives taking part in the layoffs which will take the company's head count from 16,500 to 14,500 or less. The Globe and Mail says that the layoffs could take part on June 1st which is the day before the end of RIM;s current 2012 Q1. And while this is unfortunate to those getting the pink slips, it seems to be a necessary evil in an attempt to make RIM a sleeker company that can more quickly add new technology to its devices. New CEO Thorsten Heins has promised improved execution and streamlined operations in a goal to save $1 billion dollars by the end of next year. CFO Brian Bilduka says that this can be done by utilizing layoffs. Before RIM started heading south, head count reached a peak of 20,000 as employees acquired in other deals were kept on to help supplement RIM's own technology. Some of the ideas used by the acquired personnel ended up being used in Black Berry 10 OS.

With CEO Heins on the record as being committed to making whatever changes would be needed to turn RIM around, the CEO can only do the things that he has control over. Heins can't force consumers to buy BlackBerry phones, but one thing he can do is cut costs to lower the handset's prices, which in turn should lead to more sales. And that is even before BlackBerry 10 is launched. This would be RIM's second restructuring in less than a year and the last data from IDC suggests that RIM accounts for only 7% of the world wide smartphone market.

A former RIM manager says that the company has been quietly laying off people while a current manager says the company has too many managers on the payroll, left over from the regime of former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. Also allegedly bloating the payroll are some software specialists who are not involved with the various parts of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

source: AllThngsD