Last week, Apple reported selling 20.3 million iPhones in the April to June period, a record number. RIM sold 13.2 million BlackBerrys in the March to May period.
Android sales are also strong and command 38% of the smartphone market worldwide.
The launch of its PlayBook tablet computer also wasn't as successful as the company had hoped, and phone companies have shown little interest in pushing it.
Only 500,000 PlayBooks were shipped by the end of May, compared to 9.2 million iPad’s sold in the last quarter.
RIM is making these cuts on the back of the acquisition of software company QNX in April 2010, which brought in 270 employees.
QNX will provide the operating system that will power a new generation of RIM smartphones expected in 2012.
The company is due to release seven new phones this year, all based on the updated Blackberry operating system.
