Research in Motion's ongoing woes looks set to effect key clients and partners as contract manufacturer Quanta has been forced to fire production staff due to a lack of demand for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Sales of the device slumped significantly last quarter and even a reduction in price hasn't stimulated interest as the Apple iPad continues to dominate the tablet market.
Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Incorporated, whose customers including Apple, Dell, and Sony, has offered 1,000 workers preferential compensation according to Digitimes. Quanta later confirmed this, but declined to comment on clients or orders.
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According to the report, RIM also requested that the PlayBook be manufactured in Taiwan rather than China in order to crack down on counterfeit devices.
In April this year, RIM forecasted optimistic sales of 4-5 million PlayBooks for 2011, however sales have yet to reach 800,000 following the second quarter. Responding to these figures, Quanta quickly decided to downsize production in order to minimise long-term losses.
RIM's future plans for the tablet market are unknown, however if BlackBerry's decline in the smartphone consumer space is anything to go buy, the Canadian-based manufacturer's prospects look bleak. With Apple set to release the iPhone 5 imminently and a new iPad in 2012, RIM has a monumental task on its hands to regain lost ground.
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