RIM to lay off 2,000 workers

In the face of floundering smart phone interest Research In Motion announces it is laying off more than 10 percent of it workforce.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced on July 25 that it will lay off more than 10 percent of its workforce or about 2,000 of 19,000 employees beginning this week.

As the popularity of its smart phone declines, RIM officials are also making an effort to streamline the company by having many executives promoted to positions of more leadership and by consolidating all product engineering functions, reports TechCrunch.

Current COO Dan Morrison will be retiring and will be replaced by former COO of Product Engineering Thorsten Heins who will serve in an expanded role as COO of Product and Sales, the article said.