Research in Motion has been hoping that its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer would help revive its once-venerated reputation and make the likes of Apple sweat a little bit.
It appears the tablet computer is failing to produce the intended results.
Quanta Computer – the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world – has cut back its production lines for the PlayBook at its Taiwan factory due to a significant drop in orders, DigiTimes reported, citing industry sources. Quanta Computer reportedly confirmed laying off roughly 1,000 workers, but declined to comment to DigiTimes on customers and orders.
“In response to business contraction for specific customer, Quanta Computer announced an alternative compensation offer on 09/20/2011 to full-time production line operators at the Taoyuan site," Quanta Computer said Wednesday in response to a report in the Economic Daily News. “Company would like to state that the production site in Taiwan accounts for a small portion of the overall capacity and such compensation package is limited to specific customer’s product line in Taiwan."
Quanta did not name the specific customer or product line.
In its second-quarter earnings released last week, Canada-based RIM revealed shipping 200,000 PlayBook tablets during the three-month period ending Aug. 27, 2011. Analysts had been hoping for more than a half-million shipments.
Despite making the PlayBook available in more countries, sales of the tablet computer are contracting rather than growing. In the first quarter, RIM had shipped roughly 500,000 PlayBook devices.
