Ailing BlackBerry-maker RIM reportedly cut some 200 jobs on Monday, as part of an ongoing "cost optimization program." It should come as no surprise, but BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has started to hand out pink slips to employees in Waterloo, Ontario, where the Canadian company’s headquarters are located.Research In Motion (RIM) Headquarters Last Thursday, RIM’s co-CEOs announced on its fiscal Q1 2012 earnings call that it would soon be making “headcount reductions across the company.” And it looks like RIM isn’t wasting any time. As many as 200 Waterloo-area RIM employees were greeted with layoff notices yesterday morning, according to The Waterloo Region Record, a local Waterloo news outlet. No additional details on the specific employees who were affected, or their areas of employment, were mentioned in the report. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe The layoffs appear to be part of the “cost optimization program” announced by RIM on Thursday, which will include a “realignment…. focused on taking out redundancies and a reallocation of resources to allow [RIM] to focus on the areas that offer the highest growth opportunities and align with…. strategic objectives, such as accelerating new product introductions.” RIM has come upon hard times during the past few years, largely due to competition from rivals like Apple and Google, and an inability to get new products out the door as quickly as these fast-moving competitors. On the financial side of things, RIM on Thursday announced that its revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was $4.9 billion, down 12 percent from $5.6 billion in the previous quarter. And net income for the quarter was $695 million, compared with net income of $934 million in the prior quarter and net income of $769 million in the same quarter last year. RIM employs about 17,500 people globally, with roughly 9,000 of them located in and around Waterloo, according to The Waterloo Region Record. And while the number of layoffs on Monday doesn’t necessary sound very significant when compared to the total number of RIM staffers located in Waterloo, those layoffs are very likely only the first round of the reductions. AS Via TheRecord.com Related content feature Mastercard preps for the post-quantum cybersecurity threat A cryptographically relevant quantum computer will put everyday online transactions at risk. Mastercard is preparing for such an eventuality — today. By Poornima Apte Sep 22, 2023 6 mins CIO 100 CIO 100 CIO 100 feature 9 famous analytics and AI disasters Insights from data and machine learning algorithms can be invaluable, but mistakes can cost you reputation, revenue, or even lives. These high-profile analytics and AI blunders illustrate what can go wrong. By Thor Olavsrud Sep 22, 2023 13 mins Technology Industry Technology Industry Technology Industry feature Top 15 data management platforms available today Data management platforms (DMPs) help organizations collect and manage data from a wide array of sources — and are becoming increasingly important for customer-centric sales and marketing campaigns. By Peter Wayner Sep 22, 2023 10 mins Marketing Software Data Management opinion Four questions for a casino InfoSec director By Beth Kormanik Sep 21, 2023 3 mins Media and Entertainment Industry Events Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe