RIM looking to set up at RTP?

In the face of cut-throat competition from rivals like Sony Ericsson and Apple, Research In Motion, the Canadian company which is the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, is planning on setting up a facility at Research Triangle Park. The RTP is located in North Carolina and is in the heart of the Research Triangle Region. Known widely as a centre for innovation, more than 170 companies are set up here.

During a two-day recruiting event at the Marriot at Research Triangle Park last week, the officials of RIM met many jobseekers. The candidates were also told that the company was contemplating and investigating about opening a facility in the region, but the potential site was yet to be disclosed.

This move of Research In Motion seems like a ray of hope for the myriad who faced job losses from some of the big employers like Nortel Networks, IBM and several others. Sony Ericsson had announced to shut down its RTP office, thus leading to job losses for abut 425 local workers. As such, RIM expanding to this region will be a rescue act for all those who were left high and dry because of the job cuts.

Presently RIM has North American offices in Irvine, Texas; Redwood City, Calif; Fort Lauderdale, Fla; Chicago and Ottawa. The company has regional offices outside Chicago and in South Florida, both of these sites are near Motorola’s existing facilities. Motorola has also been making layoffs to cut down costs so it seems like a perfect strategy for RIM to tap on to the workers who have knowledge about how to build a phone and test a phone.

RIM spokesman Jamie Ernst however did not comment on the same. The company is supposed to come out with quarterly results next week. The job screening interviews held at Durham lasted for eight hours where back to back career forums were conducted. A presentation about RIM was also conducted where its current locations were marked by a red dot on a map while a green dot for the Triangle area was allocated. “RTP is well-recognized as an excellent technology base, so anyone who is growing in the wireless space would have an interest there,” said Barry Richards, a senior technology analyst at Paradigm Capital in Toronto.

While the sales of smartphones have been low during the recession, RIM faces severe competition form Apple’s iPhone and others. Hence the company is pushing hard to innovate devices with better features that appeal to the average consumers apart from the corporate customers.

Source: News Observer Website