Despite the fact that Apple is posting record quarter profits and is on track to unveil, what is considered, the most hotly anticipated iPhone yet and that Samsung continues to dominate the world in smartphone sales, jobs elsewhere are being cut. iOS and Android (at least on Samsung devices) continue to drive the mobile market, a market that for the most part is growing and producing billions in revenue, assuming you’re one of those two companies.
If you’re on the flip side, things may not be looking so bright. It seems like just about every where you turn, companies that are trying to compete with Apple and Samsung are continuing to struggle. Look at HTC, who has just announced poor second quarter earnings and have already warned that their third quarter won’t be much better. Just last year, they enjoyed record profits and success, quarter after quarter, that is until the iPhone 4S was released, since then, they’ve been stuck in the mud. Research in Motion (RIM), who has been struggling for nearly 2-3 years, hasn’t been able to keep up with iOS and Android, they’ve had to shuffle their board of directors, remove the co-founders/co-CEO’s and have made thousands of job cuts, another 3,000 of which are expected to happen before the end of August, and they still have yet to produce anything new in almost a year. Then there’s Microsoft, a company who has billions of dollars at their disposal but their latest attempt in the mobile space, Windows Phone, has also failed to take off. Windows Phone features a great user interface, smooth performance and a great third party manufacturer in Nokia, but both companies continue to fail when it comes to dethroning iOS and Android (Samsung).
The latest victim in the mobile space is Motorola, which was recently acquired by Google this year. Motorola plans to ax nearly 20% of its workforce, or 4,000 jobs. On top of that, Google plans to shut down a third of Motorola’s world-wide offices. Google plans on making Motorola profitable again, which means reducing the amount of devices released per year, creating better quality devices and tightening Motorola’s budget. Unlike some of the other companies, Google is committed to providing generous severance packages to those employees being cut loose and for some, job outplacement. While it’s better than what some other companies are doing, it’s still tough to see so many people losing their jobs, when jobs should be plentiful in such a booming market.