Fergie's Tech Blog

Good Technology cuts more than a fifth of work force

An AP newswire article, via The Mercury News (obnoxious, but free registration required -- or use BugMeNot.com), reports that:

Good Technology Inc. has cut more than 100 jobs, or one-fifth of its work force, in recent weeks as part of the mobile e-mail company's growing emphasis on partnering with cellular operators such as Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. rather than direct sales.

Good, whose GoodLink service is a small but fast-growing rival to BlackBerry from Research In Motion Ltd., told The Associated Press on Tuesday that its total staff has fallen from about 500 positions to 400. The new tally includes an undisclosed number of hires in roles other than direct sales.

The restructuring comes about three months after Good announced a deal in which Cingular, the nation's biggest cell phone provider, began selling GoodLink directly to its subscribers at a sizable discount. A similar deal with Sprint was announced in July.

The two carrier deals have provided a big boost for Good as it wrestles for market share with the dominant BlackBerry service, which has more than 3 million users. Good, a private company based in Santa Clara, Calif., last reported that it has 7,000 corporate accounts, up from 4,000 at the end of last year, but doesn't disclose how many individual users it has.

posted by Fergie @ 9/13/2005 06:02:00 PM