Sierra Wireless to exit Voq phone business |
| Wednesday, 08 June 2005 | |
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TORONTO, June 7 (Reuters) - Sierra Wireless Inc. said on Tuesday it is giving up on its Voq smartphone product, and will either sell off or shut down an initiative that was widely seen as a market failure. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm said it will immediately shift some Voq resources to its core wireless modem business, which accounts for 99 percent of its sales. The product line includes PC cards for laptops. "We have enjoyed limited success to date on the Voq professional phone and have concluded that continuing to proceed with Voq is no longer the best use of our resources, given our other opportunities," Sierra Chief Executive David Sutcliffe said in a statement. "We will now seek the most effective exit, whether by divestiture or by termination of the initiative." Sierra said 55 of its 319 staff have been working directly on the Voq product. It said about 15 of these people will be transferred to the wireless modem businesses. The others will remain with Voq during the exit process. Sierra warned it could incur restructuring charges, including employee severance expenses, as it sells off or shuts down the Voq business. If the charges are taken in the second-quarter, Sierra said it could miss forecasts it issued in April. But otherwise, it said operating results for the second quarter to date are in line with the April 21 guidance. [ADMIN: This is good news, since it gives Sierra the chance to focus on what it does best! |
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