'Sub-arctic' atmos at RIM UK as jobs apocalypse looms
Sickly octopus refuses to confirm or deny tentacle's fate
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Workers at RIM European's headquarters in Slough have been warned job cuts are coming, it is understood, after CEO Thorsten Heins threatened in June to axe 5,000 staff globally.
Employees were called into a meeting on Tuesday afternoon and told of the redundancies, a Register source said, adding that the cuts are deeper than expected and had fallen across both the consumer and enterprise teams.
Our informant described the atmosphere in the Slough HQ as "sub-Arctic".
In a back-of-the-beer-mat (BOTBM) calculation, the Reg reckons that if 5,000 jobs are to go at RIM this year, and 3,000 went in North America in August, then circa 1,000 to 1,500 people are likely to be facing redundancy in Europe.
Before this year's job cuts started, RIM employed 16,500 staff globally. Last summer it let go 2,000 employees, although RIM has refused to confirm the latter number.
We put the above account to RIM UK, asking its mouthpieces if the details laid out are correct. Its PR team would only reiterate Heins' tinned statement:
Our financial target is to drive at least $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2013, based on our Q4 2012 run rate, and headcount reductions are part of this initiative. RIM has reduced some positions as part of this programme and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business.
Specifics on geography could not be offered, we were told, so there are no details on who is getting cut where. RIM said it will provide more information when its Q2 FY13 results come out on 28 September, 2012. ®
COMMENTS
Sad news but
I can't help but feel the sooner RIM get out of hardware & sell their "services" at a corporate level the better from the whole company.
Go where you are appreciated not where you are tolerated.
Re: Sad news but
I'm not sure there's a much better outcome for services comapred to hardware. Margins are somewhat better for services, but as far as I can see they are still selling hardware profitably.
RIM's problem is mainly that it is steadily becoming less significant, because it is losing market share, even whilst it has grown by 50% over the past five years or so. Margins have been hit in the past couple of years, but certainly the five year average is pretty credible, and the firm isn't haemorraghing cash like many death spiral companies. RIM doesn't have debt (or huge cash reserves for that matter), but it seems to be fading away, rather than dying on its feet.
This latest announcement is stock market driven, pushing the CEO for better results by hacking at the sales and marketing base, but that's not going to address the declining relevance of RIM. Back in the days of two CEO's the problem started, because they didn't have a plan, and that means no platform for maintaining market share. A bit like many major tech companies, I might add.
If market expectations weren't as high, RIM could claim to be a major success story, but the world currently thinks of them as a smaller version of Nokia.
Maybe it's sad, but...
I aspire to buy one of the BB10's when released.
Microsoft, Apple, and Google have all, in that order, lost my trust. And I'm bored of them.
RIM would, I'm sure, love to be as evil as the rest, but they're too weak to be so and, from what I've seen, BB10 looks like it will be a very polished offering (and I have regard for the QNX OS underlying it).
So somehow, completely unintentionally, I've lined myself up to be a first time RIM customer.
I'll abstain until I've seen the actual delivery of course, but, even if RIM are doomed, if it's any good I'll probably get one just to avoid the other 3. And I keep hearing, 'Is there room for 3 phone ecosystems?'.
Perhaps logic will intervene, but I'm not feeling logical, I'm feeling malevolent against the larger corporations.
And, frankly, I can afford to 'cut my nose off to spite my face'.
So, yes, I'll buy from the hungry one please.
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