"As you know, Thursday was the middle of the end, or maybe the end of the end, for Research in Motion, once a Nortel-like Canadian wonderco, inventor of the iconic Blackberry. The company lost more than $500 million in just 90 days. It does not have the resources to launch a saviour product. Company stock lost about 20% of its value last night, on top of the 70% decline it’s already suffered. Worse, another 5,000 people – a third of its remaining workforce – will be axed. I have no idea if that includes engineers, but I bet. RIM is a massive presence in the K-W area of Ontario. The impact of these job losses – high-value-added, high-wage, high-knowledge positions – is inestimable. The company is the city’s largest employer, with about 8,000 people (at least at noon on Thursday) on its local payroll. It owns the most offices of any company in town. It donates the most. It generates the most taxes. It’s become the region’s very future. And it’s about the only reason a decent house is tough to find for less than $450,000." - Morton Fox from Bookmarklet