Happily for Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry Ltd., it appears that it is ready to close the book on staff reductions, and begin the arduous climb from parody to parity with its competitors in the smartphone and wireless device market.
The company has now set its sights on recovering from its disastrous and diversionary foray into the consumer marketplace, a period of time that saw the company take its eye off its legacy corporate and business communication device markets while iOS, Android and Windows Phone-based devices chewed into BlackBerry's business dominance.
Prior to this downturn, BlackBerry enjoyed the loyalty of government clients and corporate IT departments, customers who favored BlackBerry's competency in security and mobile-device management.
During the company's darkest days, rumors abounded about bankruptcy, and the company eventually laid off 4,500 employees less than a year ago -- about 40 percent of its workforce.
According to an internal memo, BlackBerry CEO John Chen claimed that rather than enforcing further layoffs, the company will now commence hiring personnel in product development, sales and customer service. He also indicated that the company is aiming to be cash flow-positive by March 2015.
With Chen's moves toward re-establishing BlackBerry's preferred-partner status in the business world, industry observers see stabilization at the company. Chen, with his reputation as a turnaround specialist at stake, took over the job in November 2013 after the company's failure to make headway with the introduction of its BlackBerry 10 OS. That device, which tried to straddle the fence between consumer-friendly and business-competent, failed on both counts.
So far, Chen has cut costs by outsourcing some production and materials to other suppliers; by divesting non-core businesses; and even by selling some company-owned real estate.
The company is also releasing new devices for both entry-level and premium customers, including the almost square-shaped Passport, which has a physical keyboard.
Just recently, Chen made a move that makes BlackBerry's re-focus on its core business device strengths abundantly clear -- the company purchased long-time partner firm Secusmart, a German high-tech mobile voice and data encryption and security specialist.
Chen still has his work laser-cut out for him. Competitors have established firm footholds in BlackBerry's former domain; and there are new competitors that boast of BlackBerry-like expertise in voice, device and data security and encryption. For example, the new ultra-security conscious Blackphone will be calling on the same government and corporate buyers as BlackBerry.
