RIM sacks 2000

Research in Motion, maker of BlackBerry handhelds, has shuffled management and will sack 2000 workers in an attempt to claw its way back to the top of the smartphone market it once dominated but lost to Apple.

The move, described as a "cost optimisation programme," will bring RIM's worldwide headcount down to around 17,000. The company says that today's announcement follows on from the strategy the company outlined in its full-year results last month.

It coincided with the company revealing it had bought Swedish video editing company JayCut as part of efforts to increase the sparkle of its flagging PlayBook device by improving the usability of its high definition cameras, HDMI output and high resolution playbook.

RIM Australia did not respond to requests for information about how the proposed jobs cuts would affect RIM's operations in Australia by the time of publication.

The management changes will see current chief operating officer, Don Morrison, retire. Thorsten Heins, now chief operating officer for products, will expand his role to cover sales. Jim Rowan will become operations operating officer.

BlackBerry's chief information officer, Robin Bienfait, will see her remit expand to include the company's Enterprise Business Unit, which looks after the BlackBerry Enterprise Server product line.

According to a statement, the moves at RIM are "intended to create greater alignment of the organisation and to streamline RIM’s operations in order to better position the company for future growth and profitability."

Falling margins, and a loss of market share to companies including Apple and Samsung have put pressure on the Canadian company.

Earlier this month, it was forced by shareholders to set up a committee to review senior management, including a possible split of the co-chair and co-chief executive officer roles held by Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. The committee will report in January.

The company also saw both its turnover and profits squeezed in its last quarter's results and, although shipments of BlackBerry devices increased to 13.2 million units, this fell short of the company's own estimates.

In addition, financial analysts have calculated that the average selling price for BlackBerry phones, a number RIM no longer releases, also fell.

RIM has said it will consult with employees in North America and overseas over job losses. However, the company did not respond to requests for details of any job cuts in Europe.