Research in Motion Ltd. is laying off approximately 10 percent of its workforce in an effort to cut costs, company officials announced on Tuesday.
RIM, of Waterloo, Ontario, is expecting a pre-tax charge of between $8 million and $9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2003, but expects to save up to $25 million in the long term. RIM had about 2,200 employees at the beginning of November.
“We believe this streamlining will prove to be a prudent move for RIM in both the near term and the long term,” said Jim Balsillie, RIMs chairman and CEO.
RIM manufacturers the BlackBerry line of wireless e-mail pagers and the complementary BlackBerry server software.
RIM does not appear to be scaling down in terms of product development. The company has several new devices in the works. At Fall Comdex in Las Vegas next week, Nextel Communications Inc. will officially announce the long-awaited BlackBerry 6510 device, which runs on Nextels iDen network and works as an e-mail pager, phone and walkie-talkie.
RIM also is developing several devices that will run on third-generation wireless networks, including a tri-band color device that AT&T Wireless may offer as soon as the first quarter of next year, according to Balsillie.