BlackBerry may be reeling, but its host city thrives - The Universe

BlackBerry may be ailing, but his host city is far from complete.

December, BlackBerry unveiled another disappointing earnings report, posting 4,400 million in losses and a decrease of 56% in revenue in its fiscal third quarter.

The report was the latest in a series of quarters to give worthy embarrassment for the company, results have forced BlackBerry start firing 4,500 people, or 40% of its workforce.

But unlike some cities that suffered when a large local company faltered, Waterloo, BlackBerry backyard, still burns economic power. Large and small technology companies are coming here, about 112 kilometers southwest of Toronto, to recruit talent BlackBerry, and several of the companies also settled in the city

.

Google, a local presence for nearly a decade, was recently joined its subsidiary Motorola Mobility hardware. Square, the mobile service credit card processing started by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and chairman of Twitter, has opened an office. Cisco announced in December that would create 1,700 jobs in research and development at close range.

several start-ups that left Waterloo in search of funding and talent of Silicon Valley, including Thalmic Labs, a computer company control gestures, have returned.

Because these companies and the appetite for technology employees insurance industry long established in the region, analysts suggest that most, if not all, of the former employees find jobs in Waterloo BlackBerry without having to move .

“The area has a really high density of technology talent,” Bryan said Power, the scouting director Square, who plans to have about 40 employees working in the region by the end of 2014. “We have a long agenda for this city. We really want to be part of this community. “

BlackBerry, which originally was known as Research in Motion, was not the first technology company in this city. But the company’s rise to global prominence and became a twin city Waterloo’s grade, Kitchener, being the capital of rubber products, hot dogs and furniture of Canada’s high-tech center of the country.

BlackBerry’s rise, and its relatively high for their employees, wages attracted unusual elements for a Canadian urban area the size of Kitchener-Waterloo, which has about 320,000 inhabitants. The Jaguar and BMW dealerships have prospered, for example, and an Apple store.

But the fall of BlackBerry has been almost as precipitous as his rise. Your earnings report highlighted the problems facing the company, which just a few years ago was leader in smartphones. However, no major crisis is evident in the area.

The company generally does not break down the layoffs by region, but Karen Gallant, which operates a program to find local work for unemployed tech workers, estimates of current layoffs and a first round began in 2012, about 3,500 employees of BlackBerry have lost their jobs in the two cities. The regional unemployment rate in November was 6 percent, half a percentage point lower from a year earlier.

Even before the latest round of layoffs BlackBerry in September, several major technology companies, including Apple and Facebook were announced, celebrated nights in the area of ??recruitment. Some companies have sought employees have tried to attract people to distant headquarters.

But Power said

Square decided that an office in the area would improve the chances of the company to hire the best talent emerging from the University of Waterloo, which has faculties of computer science and engineering highly appreciated and is an important part of attractive to technology companies.

Jesse Wilson, developer of Android in Square, the company convinced of the merits of Waterloo when he was hired.

Although jobs are staying in the region, they are concentrating on a different location. The resort’s main offices BlackBerry, built just a few years ago, is located in the suburban edge of Waterloo. There is little except farms, beyond it.

But many of the newer technology companies in the area, including Google, Square, MappedIn and Motorola, are former industrial buildings in the heart of downtown Kitchener.

For over seven years, Derek Phillips worked for Google in a building in the center was formerly a tannery. Then he helped convince Motorola to open an office in Canada. Motorola is slowly growing leasing temporary office in a large brick in the center that first produced rubber boots in the early twentieth century and then produced auto parts.

Phillips said the combination of workers in the area was an important advantage for the company.
“We were interested in having a good mix of experienced people who could do things in the area and also many new and promising people “Phillips, who is now the director of engineering for Motorola Mobility Canada
said.

“That has been very successful for Google, so I was interested in the same type of balance for Motorola.” For employers, said, competition for hiring the best talent is less intense in Kitchener-Waterloo that in many other places, including California, and employee turnover is much lower and the community offers amenities such as Communitech to help with recruitment.

as Canadian immigration laws are more flexible than U.S. technology companies can also add talented foreign workers to the combination.

employees, Phillips said, the area offers reasonable prices for housing, good schools and other attractions. “I’ve been in Waterloo almost 20 years, and I really like the area,” he said.