Quote :

"Sony Ericsson has yet to make this public, but we've learned that the flagging handset maker has caved once more to the pressures of the modern phone market place. If you'll recall, 450 employees were nixed from the company's payrolls in September of last year, and now the entire Research Triangle Park facility is being shuttered. In an internal announcement made this morning, SE is fixing to close four total sites: RTP in North Carolina, a smaller Miami facility and operations in Kista (Sweden) and Chennai. All told, 2,000 employees will be trimmed, with severance packages being offered to those who qualify. As of now, the departing individuals have yet to be chosen, with employees in RTP given the opportunity to apply for jobs elsewhere (likely in Atlanta or California)."

Hope this is no one here

11/18/2009 9:31:47 AM

Source?

11/18/2009 9:32:53 AM

That sucks.

11/18/2009 9:35:01 AM

OH snap. I have a friend who works in RTP for SE.

11/18/2009 9:39:43 AM

This upsets me. I spent two coop rotations at SE in RTP

11/18/2009 9:39:58 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/18/sony-ericsson-closing-four-facilities-laying-off-2-000-employee/

11/18/2009 9:40:43 AM

i, too, just read this

bad news for a lot of people, I know a few people that just jumped ship from SE a few months ago...good timing

11/18/2009 9:50:59 AM

My friend who works there just confirmed it.

11/18/2009 9:54:12 AM

That sucks
I was coop there for last years layoffs. Lots of good people were still there.

11/18/2009 10:16:56 AM

I believe its Sony Ericsson...not Sony/Ericsson...just fyi

11/18/2009 10:40:42 AM

that sucks

11/18/2009 10:41:31 AM

THEY WROTE FIXING IN A NEWS ARTICLE?

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message

11/18/2009 10:41:40 AM

That does suck.

I, too, spent a few semesters cooping at Sony, I feel for my friends there, good people.

I think I got out before the first round of layoffs, but I was there for all of the rumoring and they knew people were getting cut from somewhere.

11/18/2009 11:00:05 AM

lol @ SandSanta. Doesn't he work there?

11/18/2009 11:03:35 AM

^that's fucked up.

it's quite unfortunate for the people that work there.

11/18/2009 11:11:08 AM

^^nah, he worked there the same time I did. I think he moved on to somewhere else.

11/18/2009 11:12:44 AM

i did my co-op there and probably would have been hired if i hadn't screwed up in the interview
thank god

11/18/2009 11:14:53 AM

I work there. It's no big surprise, a lot of us saw it coming. I just feel bad for the other employees with famlies and stuff. Keep them in your prayers or wherever you atheists keep your thoughts.

11/18/2009 11:59:30 AM

RIP Mr. Salty

11/18/2009 12:02:18 PM

http://www.wral.com/business/story/6446521/

Quote :

"RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Mobile phone handset maker Sony Ericsson announced Wednesday that it will close its operation in Research Triangle Park, eliminating 420 jobs. Officials didn't provide a date for the closure of the plant, which served as its North American headquarters and research operation. Sony Ericsson will move its U.S. headquarters to Atlanta, and its R&D unit will be shifted to California, officials said during an employee meeting Wednesday morning. "

I never understand why any company moves anything to California given the cost of doing business out there.

Also, I wonder how this affects the NT CDMA and LTE divisions that they bought. I know that some NT people were supposed to transition to Sony Ericsson around the beginning of the year.

11/18/2009 1:16:51 PM

Bobby, you actually seem to think Sony Ericsson actually has the management brains to make good decisions. They don't. Its a company with good people, but awful incompetant arrogant management.

11/18/2009 1:21:13 PM

billy talent hit that palindrome

11/18/2009 1:27:04 PM

^^which dept were you in?

11/18/2009 1:33:47 PM

I was with what once was called PDIST, then EGIST. I was in IT. Located in Keystone 4 when you had a presence there, then moved to 8001 briefly, before ended back at Key 4.

11/18/2009 1:41:38 PM

Probably because the Coops just browse TWW all day!!! I'm looking at you HUR, bobster

11/18/2009 3:13:32 PM

CarZin sucked at his job, got cut in 2001, and is still bitter about it

i would take his criticisms of management with a grain of salt

11/18/2009 3:16:03 PM

Quote :

"lol @ SandSanta. Doesn't he work there?"

LOL you are dumb...he hasn't worked there in a few years.

11/18/2009 3:16:11 PM

Quote :

"CarZin sucked at his job, got cut in 2001, and is still bitter about it i would take his criticisms of management with a grain of salt"

I guess anything is possible, but that doesnt seem to be supported by the facts. There were 500 people in EGIST at its height. I was the only person who did my job. I was laid off in the last round before the joint venture, and there were less than 20 people left. My job was outsourced to Lynchburg VA (they had network engineers there). They were laid off a few months after. Then they outcourced the networking support to Richardson, Texas. Then RTP got sick and tired of the outsource about 1.5 years after that, and they went local again.

In fairness, I didnt get along with my management. I had a manager, who I rarely saw (he was in Richardson, RX), that was a complete micromanaging dickhead. I think he thought I wasnt doing anything if I didnt tell him everything that went on at every point of the day. Thank God I havent had a manager like that since. And when I talk about management, it has nothing to do with my management.

Its annoying to see fabulous products being worked on in labs, to see the company cancel the good projects, and keep the crap projects. Its annoying to see companies like Nokia and Motorola (remember, this was 2001) run circles around you with highly effective media and advertising. It was annoying to see the company not understand the cell phone as a fashion accessory, like Nokia did, and develop phones that would appeal to its customers in mass. Thats the type of bad management I am talking about.

I know you're just trolling, which is why I dont give a shit about your comments, but more to show everyone else what a shithole company they are.


[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 3:36 PM. Reason : .]

11/18/2009 3:30:29 PM

nothing in that wall of text was evidence of a shitty company

but there is evidence that you're a whiny bitch

11/18/2009 3:32:45 PM

^there actually was...but I we all know you didn't bother to read but instead jumped right at the opportunity to troll.

11/18/2009 3:36:04 PM

I actually wanted to add more, and installed this:

Its annoying to see fabulous products being worked on in labs, to see the company cancel the good projects, and keep the crap projects. Its annoying to see companies like Nokia and Motorola (remember, this was 2001) run circles around you with highly effective media and advertising. It was annoying to see the company not understand the cell phone as a fashion accessory, like Nokia did, and develop phones that would appeal to its customers in mass. Thats the type of bad management I am talking about.

it was also shitty to see the company have their employees so scared about being let go, that any excitement you had working on projects was drowned out by worrying if you were going to be next.



[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 4:00 PM. Reason : ,]

11/18/2009 3:37:23 PM

right on

11/18/2009 3:38:35 PM

^

11/18/2009 3:39:48 PM

^^^My Uncle was in R&D there (until today I guess) and I think he would agree with everything you've said. He was pretty excited about the new XPERIA™ X10, but it's the first thing he's been excited to release in a while. He was the only one retained from his department in the round of lay offs last year. I mean, he loved his job, there were just plenty of frustrations.

[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 4:19 PM. Reason : ]

11/18/2009 4:18:32 PM

who knows, maybe they'll pull a Motorola and get their shit together


although I'm betting that Motorola is still really just trying to paper over the cracks at the moment.


at any rate, it sucks that more people are getting laid off, but to be honest SE's been headed down this path for a while.

11/18/2009 6:16:14 PM

^ after the Nextel sell off I though Moto was out.

However after handling a DROID I think they're 100% back in the game if not back on top. The interface is just as smooth if not better that Apple competitors on a network 10x better, and an open development platform. Going to get interesting

My money is that Nokia, RIM, MOTO, HTC, Apple, LG and Samsung will be the only few left standing in the coming year; particularly if the recession holds.

11/18/2009 8:33:31 PM

Moto DAMN sure isn't back on top. Their handsets have been completely uninspired shit since the RAZR. Sure, the DROID looks like a much better offering, but we'll see what issues there are with it, and how many copies of it they make.

11/18/2009 8:40:14 PM

Quote :

"The interface is just as smooth if not better that Apple competitors on a network 10x better, and an open development platform."

huh what? I'm trying to understand what you are trying to say in this sentence but just can't figure it out, especially the part in bold..and not because you said apple...but because the sentence just doesn't make any sense.

11/18/2009 9:21:22 PM

i think he just confused himself and meant that moto's phone is pretty damn good and their network is much better than apple's so given these useful advantages and the open source advancement that it could be awesome.

i just came in to post, fuck Moto. I deal with them on a daily basis. Moto workers from NC to Tx to PA to Malaysia and they are all incompetent and have far too many failures than they could even imagine properly addressing so they just ignore them.

11/18/2009 9:43:06 PM

oh no, someone said something bad about apple!! golovoko to the rescue!!!!

11/18/2009 9:50:01 PM

Quote :

"and not because you said apple."

don't u have a pool to clean you little mexican?

11/18/2009 9:53:17 PM

i did two co-op rotations there as well. i feel bad for the people that were still there.

11/18/2009 9:54:20 PM

i worked several contracts for them from 2005-2007

this sucks

11/18/2009 11:11:48 PM

Quote :

"i just came in to post, fuck Moto. I deal with them on a daily basis. Moto workers from NC to Tx to PA to Malaysia and they are all incompetent and have far too many failures than they could even imagine properly addressing so they just ignore them."

You right.

But that's what happens when you let engineers (no offense to any in here) dictate your company direction.

Quote :

"Moto DAMN sure isn't back on top. Their handsets have been completely uninspired shit since the RAZR. Sure, the DROID looks like a much better offering, but we'll see what issues there are with it, and how many copies of it they make."

Droid was driven by CXD (consumer eXperience design) at Moto (and I know this for a fact, I know several people who worked on it), and that's why it's well put together.

The question is whether or not Moto's management will continue to let CXD drive products, or if they're going to keep kowtowing to carrier account managers (who invite the carriers, who know dick-all, to openly fuck them in their asshole) and program managers (who are all former engineers that couldn't give a fuck about the quality of the product experience as long as they meet the CAM's bullshit short timelines).


The reason why Apple has set a good mark for their product is because they are focused on ONE cellphone, and they don't bend to carrier requests. This is optimal for them. Introduce a greater range of products to dilute the focus (an iPhone flip, for example), or bending to carrier request, and you'd start to see some of the same shit with Apple as you've seen with Moto, SE, and other flailing phone makers.

Apple has it made because they make one thing and can tell the carriers to go fuck themselves if they don't like it.

[Edited on November 19, 2009 at 12:34 AM. Reason : missed that quote]

11/19/2009 12:33:16 AM

Quote :

"I never understand why any company moves anything to California given the cost of doing business out there."

SE always made some ugly ass phones.

11/19/2009 12:56:02 AM

Quote :

"Nokia, RIM, MOTO, HTC, Apple, LG and Samsung"

What's RIM and HTC?

Where I live now Sharp and Panasonic are some of the major cell phone makers. Do they even sell those phones in the States?

11/19/2009 1:05:38 AM

^ No, but Japan's phone demands are far different. Sharp/Panny handsets would sell like crap in the States.

SE just lagged behind too badly, and to this day they haven't figured out how to properly launch a phone. The X10 takes so long to develop that it's leaked 9 months ago. 5 months ago all the buzz is gone. Then they launch it with Android 1.6, while the Droid is already rocking 2.0. Fail.

THEN they say "Oh, this phone won't even ship for 4 more months, after the holiday quarter ends." Fail.

Look at Moto. A failing phone division, yet the figured out how to introduce a product, get a modern OS on it and get it into consumer hands all within around 2 weeks. Success.

[Edited on November 19, 2009 at 1:09 AM. Reason : ,]

11/19/2009 1:09:23 AM

I don't even know why they sell well here to be honest. I guess just really good marketing. I hate my Sharp phone

11/19/2009 1:11:20 AM

because Japanese people are weird. Adults walk around with pink pokemon backbacks and business suits.

11/19/2009 7:46:56 AM

head'em up

11/19/2009 7:51:24 AM