BlackBerry cutting 40 per cent of staff before the year is out

It seems that the situation at BlackBerry is a lot worse than was originally predicted, as new reports that the mobile device producer will be reducing its staff size by 40 per cent before the end of 2013. It's no secret that they've been struggling to compete with the likes of Apple on the smartphone market, but is it time to pull the plug?

The harrowing news was revealed in a report published on The Wall Street Journal earlier today. It is expected that they will be cutting staff in “waves”, and it will not be limited to any particular set of departments, leaving nobody safe from the oncoming dismissals. The smartphone designer reportedly had around 12,700 employees back in March which was the last time it disclosed information about its staff, and if they still have that kind of a workforce then we're looking at around 4-5,000 people out of a job in the next three months.

This isn't the first time BlackBerry have downsized in such numbers. Back in 2011 the company had more than 17,000 employees, but cut 5,000 jobs last year.

Could the Z30 be the saving grace that BlackBerry is looking for?

Considering that more than half of the sales division was cut last week, and smaller waves of dismissals over the Summer, it doesn't look like there is a lot of hope for employees at BlackBerry. Over the past two years alone there have been downsizings that now will have put more than 10,000 people out of a job. Both the Z10 and Q10 were flops commercially, and it seems that the Z30 is expected to keep up the slack. The company has also reported losses of $84 million in the quarter ending 1st of June.

Obviously these cuts are how the company is dealing with poor sales and failings on the market in recent months, but if these trends continue then losing so many employees in a short space of time could hit it even harder.

KitGuru Says: I don't think this works as a long term solution to anything. It's hard to build up a decent reputation on the current market when everybody is going to remember you for firing so many people.

Become a Patron!