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BlackBerry revealed last week that the company plans to cut as many as 4,500 employees as the struggling smartphone maker attempts to trim costs and chart a new course in the smartphone industry after being overwhelmed by competition from Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software.

Mr. Phillips wouldn’t specifically identify the recently announced layoffs at BlackBerry as a hiring opportunity for Motorola, instead citing the wealth of talent coming from a variety of sources in the area, including local companies and the University of Waterloo, as the primary reason for establishing a hub in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Motorola — which was acquired by Google in 2011 in a deal valued at US$12.5-billion — has been planning to open an office in Waterloo for several months, Mr. Phillips said.

Despite BlackBerry’s decline, Waterloo’s technology workforce has grown steadily over the past few years, with dozens of new startups coming out of incubators like Communitech and VeloCity, in addition offices for global giants like Google.

Those in the industry believe the region is well positioned to weather the storm as BlackBerry officials sort out the future of the once mighty technology giant.

“It would have been a different story five years ago, but definitely the ecosystem now has matured significantly to the point where it is much more mature,” said Iain Klugman, chief executive of Communitech. “With what’s happened to BlackBerry in the last little while, it’s probably made room for some of it.

“There’s a big thirst for talent in town. The challenge for this community, and it will respond to that challenge, is about timing. This is a wave of talent that’s coming towards us, and we need to absorb it quickly.”