BlackBerry could slash its workforce by up to 40 per cent before the end of this year, as the struggling smartphone manufacturer attempts to cut costs.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the BlackBerry job cuts will take place across all departments at the Canadian company and are likely to come not all at once, but in waves, as it looks to reduce its 12,700-strong workforce.
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Reports about job cuts at BlackBerry come as the company reveals that its BBM messaging application will be available on Apple and Android phones from this weekend.
The company has already been subject to job cuts with lay-offs in its sales and research and development departments earlier this year. That followed 5,000 job losses last year, as the company sought to cut costs while attempting to find ways to become relevant in a market it once dominated.
BlackBerry has seen its share of the market plummet, with Apple and Samsung the main beneficiaries of its decline, thanks to smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4.
"Organisational moves will continue to occur to ensure we have the right people in the right roles to drive new opportunities in mobile computing," said a BlackBerry spokesperson, who declined to comment on the scope of the potential job losses.
BlackBerry's continuing troubles led the company to announce that it is "exploring strategic alternatives", which could include a sale, break-up, or privatisation.
Meanwhile, newly elected BlackBerry director Bert Nordberg recently commented that the company could find success as a "niche player".
"I think BlackBerry is able to survive as a niche company. But being a niche company means deciding to be a niche company. Historically, BlackBerry has had larger ambitions. But battling giants like Apple, Google and Samsung is tough," he said.
According to the latest figures, BlackBerry's share of the smartphone market now stands at just three per cent, some way behind Apple and Android's respective 13 per cent and 79 per cent shares of the market. BlackBerry has now even dropped behind Windows Phone, which claims a four per cent share of the market.
