Dive summary: 

• Despite a major rebranding, BlackBerry plans to lay off 4,500 of its employees and preparing a write-down on inventory that is estimated to be between $930 million to $960 million. 
• Phone sales for the brand, which is also being evaluated by PricewaterhouseCoopers for potential acquirers, were disappointing even after the $47.8 million (44.2%) increase in marketing spending in the past year. 
• The brand signed on singer Alicia Keys, author Neil Gaiman and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez for a campaign for the new BlackBerry 10 mobile OS and Q10 and Z10 smartphones; the artist celebrities were meant to show BlackBerry was useful for creative types, not just business suits. 

From the article: 

"Just years ago, BlackBerry was, by far, the U.S. smartphone market leader. BlackBerry's mobile operating system had a 41.5% U.S. market share at its peak in Dec. 2009. That market share dwindled to just 6.4% in Dec. 2012 as Apple's iOS and Google's Android became the predominant mobile platforms. Android and iOS had respective market shares of 53.4% and 36.3% in Dec. 2012."