BlackBerry Confirms Layoffs In Canada, Florida, Impact Felt On BlackBerry 10

UPDATE: 3:55 p.m. EST -- BlackBerry said approximately 200 people were affected by the layoffs confirmed on Friday affecting the company's operations in Waterloo, Canada, and Sunrise, Florida. That figure is drastically smaller than a report that said about 1,000 jobs had been impacted.

Original story:

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Friday confirmed layoffs at its headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, despite finding recent success in its latest turnaround effort after the launch of the Priv Android device late last year. The company said the job cuts will also impact its operations in Sunrise, Florida.

The workforce reduction impacts "a small number of employees" in Waterloo and Sunrise, BlackBerry said in a statement.

Other sources said the cuts go much deeper. The layoffs will impact 35 percent of BlackBerry's operation in Waterloo, or about 1,000 people, according to sources cited by MapleSyrup. In Sunrise, meanwhile, the cuts have been reported as hitting 75 individuals, the Sun Sentinel reported.

“As BlackBerry continues to execute its turnaround plan, we remain focused on driving efficiencies across our global workforce,” the company said in statement. “This means finding new ways to enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities while driving toward sustainable profitability across all parts of our business.”

BlackBerry has steadily cut jobs in the past few years after losing its place atop the smartphone market as a result of the rise of the Apple iPhone and devices powered by Google's Android operating system.

The cuts reported Friday are the first since BlackBerry's December earnings, which was the company's most impressive quarterly report in more than two years. These cuts also come after the release of the Priv, BlackBerry's first Android device, which launched to a generally positive reception.

But in terms of revenue, much of BlackBerry's growth these days is coming from security and privacy-focused enterprise software, not hardware devices. The latest cuts seem to indicate BlackBerry will further prioritize the software portion of its business.

“For those employees that have recently left the company, we know that they have worked hard on behalf of our company and we are grateful for their commitment and contributions,” the company said.

BlackBerry shares were down more than 3 percent Friday, trading around $7.15. Over the past three months, the company's stock price is down 5.92 percent. By comparison, the Nasdaq, the index on which BlackBerry trades, is down 11.5 percent during the same time frame.