It has been reported that BlackBerry has suffered a huge quarterly loss to the tune of approximately $ one billion and is in the process of saying good bye to around 4,500 jobs, or more than one-third of its workforce. The Waterloo, Canada based company is being in the news for getting acquired by one of its investors. There are rumors that BlackBerry may close down its mobile phone making business and will rather focus on corporate and government customers.
In such a scenario, majority of qualified workforce of BlackBerry based in Waterloo, will be jobless as there are no other handsets maker in Canada, which may absorb some of the redundant staffers. To take advantage of vast pool of experienced employees of Blackberry, Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility unit, plans to set up a new hub in Waterloo, located about an hour’s drive west of Toronto.
Motorola, Canada has a small office space in Waterloo, but for setting -up new hub for its mobile phones, they would require big space and according to the company, they have plans to grow gradually. The company has not specified how much staff will be hired but clarified that they are seeking computer science and engineering talent. Google also has its Canadian development headquarters in Waterloo.
Besides Motorola and Google, there are other tech companies based in Waterloo, which is known for its high reputaion of its University of Waterloo, which produces highly talented computer science, engineering and technology graduates. Motorola, Canada is not linking Motorola’s expansion plans to BlackBerry’s troubles, but claim that local talent pool was key to the area’s appeal.
Some local companies are also planning to shift to Waterloo to take advantage of talented job-seekers, who have been laid off or are going to be in the future. This will be win-win situation for local tech companies as by employing experienced persons, they will also be fulfilling their social responsibilites.
