BlackBerry fires its product testing team

"BlackBerry on Tuesday, 22 July informed 250 employees of their termination" in Waterloo, Ontario, spokeswoman Lisette Kwong told AFP.

"These employees were part of the new product testing facility, a department that supports BlackBerry's manufacturing and research and development efforts," she said.

While BlackBerry helped create a culture of mobile users who were glued to its smartphones, many of those customers have since moved away to Apple or other smartphone producers such as Samsung, mainly using the Google Android operating system.

A recent survey showed BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market shrank to just 2.9% in the first quarter of 2013.

In a turnaround bid, the company unveiled a new platform in January, as it dropped the corporate name Research in Motion to rebrand itself as BlackBerry.

New smartphones based on the BlackBerry 10 platform were seen as the company's best hope at regaining traction in the market after suffering staggering losses in its market share in recent years.

But an unexpected first quarter loss and disappointing sales figures posted last month sent its share price plunging.

"The latest staff cuts," said Kwong, "are part of the next stage of our turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale our company correctly for new opportunities in mobile computing."

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge