RIM closes Boston retail store

Waterloo-Ont.-based company RIM won't comment on report of 3,000 more layoffs coming

CBC News

Posted: Aug 2, 2012 8:55 AM ET

Last Updated: Aug 2, 2012 12:05 PM ET

RIM told CBC News it has closed a retail location in Boston but hasn't made a decision on other stores. (Sean Gallup/AFP-Getty Images)

Canadian company Research in Motion has closed one of the company's retail locations, a BlackBerry store in Boston, but says a decisions has not yet been made on the other ones.

RIM has a few retail locations across Canada and the United States, including a handful of airport kiosks. Citing unnamed sources close to the company, internet-based technology website Cantech Letter reported Thursday that RIM will soon close the remaining stores.

RIM confirmed in an email to CBC News it has closed the Boston location, but it says no determination has yet been made on the remaining locations.

"We are not prepared to comment on rumours or speculation about other BlackBerry branded retail locations in the U.S.," the company said in an email. "We’re constantly studying the consumer market and how customers make purchases."

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ont., is trying to turn itself around after losing more than $500 million in the first quarter.

The company has watched its BlackBerry lose market share to Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy smartphones.

RIM declined to comment on a separate report Thursday claiming the company is about to announce 3,000 more layoffs, only a few weeks after saying it would lay off 5,000 people, or as much as a quarter of its global workforce.

"RIM has previously announced that it will be reducing its global workforce by approximately 5,000 over the course of the remaining fiscal year," the company told CBC News on Thursday. "These difficult changes are necessary as we drive a program to reduce our operating expenditure by over $1 billon."

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