Research in Motion Limited (RIM), the brains behind BlackBerry smartphones, is now struggling to keep up with its competitors. RIM has recently faced great financial loss that is threatening the jobs of many of its employees.  This loss comes as a result of losing market share worldwide. Many of RIM's past customers have made the switch from BlackBerry products to other smartphone competitors like Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android.

In a business update from RIM's CEO and President, Thorsten Heins, he mentions, "The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our first quarter results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter."

According to the Globe and Mail  RIM plans on laying off as many as 2,000 of its employees. Although the amount of job cuts have yet to be openly announced by the company, it is warned that these cuts will be occurring in the coming months. "There will be significant spending reductions and headcount reductions in some areas throughout the remainder of the fiscal year", Heins states.  

In attempts to evaluate and improve their financial planning for the future, Research in Motion plans on seeking the guidance of bankers from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets. These bankers will be responsible for guiding and directing the company's overall business model.

RIM's cost optimizing and resource efficiency (CORE) program, which aids in enhance savings, aims to reduce up to $1 billion of its spending by the end of the 2013 fiscal year. Thorsten Heins says, "We are targeting better efficiency and use of resources in our sales and marketing initiatives."

The once leading competitor hopes to move forward from its financial downturn. In doing so, the company plans to launch its BlackBerry 10 by the end of this year. RIM anticipates that the new product will help bring back the competitive edge the company once had.