In what appears to be part of its retrenchment from making smartphones, BlackBerry Ltd on Friday said that it has laid off “a small number of employees” at its head office in Ottawa and in Florida.
BlackBerry chief executive officer John Chen (程守宗) is shifting to a company largely based on selling software and services to businesses and governments, although he has repeatedly made it clear that the company would continue to produce smartphones.
BlackBerry did not respond to questions about the number of people affected.
On Thursday, it filed a notice with the US state of Florida indicating that 75 people at an office in Sunrise, Floria, would be let go this month.
In a statement, the company said that the other layoffs occurred in Waterloo, Ontario.
“As BlackBerry continues to execute its turnaround plan, we remain focused on driving efficiencies across our global workforce,” the statement said. “This means finding new ways to enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities, while driving toward sustainable profitability across all parts of our business.”
In a dramatic shift, BlackBerry last year introduced a smartphone that uses Google’s Android operating system rather than its BlackBerry 10 software.
Last month, Chen wrote in a blog post that he is not giving up on BlackBerry 10, which the company’s previous management had hoped would restore the brand to its former glory. However, the only smartphone plan he revealed was the introduction of a second Android phone.
A gradual shift to Android would eliminate much of BlackBerry’s distinctiveness, but it allows the company to overcome the relative shortage of apps made for BlackBerry 10.
In addition, by shifting the burden of developing the operating system to Google, Chen would be able to further reduce costs by shedding more employees.
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