Mark Evans

Making Blackberries Outside of Canada?

Among the long list of Research in Motion's impressive accomplishments is that most - if not all - of its Blackberries devices are made in Waterloo, Ont. - pretty “unorthodox” when you consider many high-tech companies are scrambling to move their products to low-cost countries such as China or India. Still, you have to ask whether Blackberries will be grown somewhere else after RIM posted a lower-than-expected first-quarter outlook - partly due to higher product development costs. As the mobile e-mail device market sees more competition, there may come a time when RIM may have to consider off-shore manufacturing to reduce expenses. This may come across as perhaps un-Canadian but it may be difficult for RIM to resist the temptation of reducing costs to maintain its competitive edge and profit margins. RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are fiercely loyal to Waterloo but they're also smart guys who may realize moving some manufacturing production out of Canada could make economic sense. That said, RIM plans to open a call centre in Halifax so perhaps it believes it can keep itself a “Made in Canada” company.