Editor’s Note: Related tickers: BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has given layoff notices to 250 workers at its product testing facility in Waterloo, Ontario, where the global smartphone company is based. The employees supported the company’s manufacturing, research and development efforts. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) said Thursday that the cuts were part of the next stage of its turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale its company correctly for new opportunities in mobile computing. About 5,000 employees were laid off last year in restructuring efforts. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is trying to recover a stronger position in the highly competitive smartphone market with its new BlackBerry 10 line of phones and operating system.
Appy Pie Announces Support for Blackberry 10 OS & Passbook Passes (WatchListNews)
The market was taken by a storm when BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) unveiled its latest OS BlackBerry 10 for the users. The new OS has received many positive reviews from the critics and the company is pushing this OS aggressively in the market. This new OS also meant a new platform for app development for users of Appy Pie, the fast growing cloud based Mobile Apps Builder that allows users with no programming skills to create an App, which now has added Support for Blackberry 10 Apps. Passbook is a new feature of iOS6, Passbook is a place to store boarding passes, loyalty cards, store rewards cards, coupon codes and even movie tickets. Information of all those cards or coupon codes will be stored in the Passbook app, where retailers just have to scan the QR code to validate.
The man in charge of BlackBerry’s PlayBook resigns (TweakTown)
David J. Smith, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s Vice President in charge of their PlayBook tablet, has resigned. Smith had been working for the company for 8 years, taking over the PlayBook project after it was released back in 2011. We all know how BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s PlayBook has played out in the market, with the company pushing it as the “first professional tablet” but with a bunch of delays, it never took off. It missed huge features such as e-mail and more, something BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (the name of the company at the time) made a very bad bet on. The company saw a near $500 million writedown on the tablet, which didn’t help.
BlackBerry focuses on MDM platform, services business (IVCPost)
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek stated that the company has “got to get the MDM market”. Misek based his thesis and US$22 price target on the company and said that it would tap the MDM market. However, analysts said that even if BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) gets the entire market share, it would still fail to make up for the lost revenue. Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s CEO, reiterated that the value of the company depended on being an end-to-end service provider that included the device. Its profitable services would be revamped so that it could grow. Since its hardware operations could no longer attain enough profits, the company would just concentrate on services business. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) generated US$3.7 billion in service income in one year. It would also focus on making second generation BlackBerry 10.
