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Dire times continue at BlackBerry as giant lays off 250 employees to 'increase efficiency'

On the quest to be profitable again

Dire times continue at BlackBerry as giant lays off 250 employees to 'increase efficiency'
BlackBerry has reportedly laid off 250 employees from its Waterloo, Ontario office in Canada.

The company claims said employees - who worked in the new product testing facility, supporting its manufacturing and research and development efforts – have been culled in order to "increase efficiency", and to help BlackBerry scale "correctly" for new opportunities.

Off its game?

Earlier this month at BlackBerry's general meeting, CEO Thorsten Heins told shareholders that BlackBerry is "still in the midst of a major, complex transition of this company, and like most of these transformations ….progress can be volatile".

The layoffs, however, are nothing new. Last year, BlackBerry let close to 5,000 employees go as part of widescale restructuring at the Canadian company, which is attempting to reclaim a substantial stake in the smartphone market.

Recently, Microsoft has presented stiff competition to BlackBerry's third-place position in the global smartphone race - with Windows Phone devices allegedly outselling the BlackBerry 10 almost 3 to 1.

[source: CTV News]

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