BlackBerry is preparing for an increase in executive departures as retention bonuses expire and Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins sets tougher targets that put managers’ jobs on the line, according to a person familiar with the Canadian smartphone maker’s plans.

Meanwhile, Best Buy has cut the price of BlackBerry’s Z10 smartphone to $49.99 with a service contract, two weeks after the Canadian smartphone maker reported lackluster sales of the flagship touch-screen model.

The Z10 is available at that price with a two-year contract from Verizon Wireless or AT&T Inc., the Richfield, Minnesota- based retailer said on its website. The device originally went on sale in the U.S. in March at $199.99, on par with Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Sales of the Z10 last quarter were almost 1 million units short of analysts’ estimates, contributing to a surprise loss for BlackBerry. The company is now increasingly dependent on the newer Q10 phone, which features a physical keyboard and appeals to its existing customer base. BlackBerry, which has steadily lost market share to Apple and other rivals, accounted for less than 3 percent of global smartphone sales last quarter, according to research firm IDC.

BlackBerry shares fell 1 percent to $9.24 at the close Friday in New York. The stock has dropped 22 percent this year.

One-year incentive packages offered starting last July to help get the company’s new BlackBerry 10 phones and software built and delivered on time are expiring, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Heins is also establishing goals for phone sales, subscriber growth and product development, the person said. Managers failing to meet the figures will face termination, the person said.

The renewed pressure on jobs comes after BlackBerry fired 5,000 workers last year to squeeze out $1 billion in operating costs. Analysts had expected the cutbacks to help the company post a profit last quarter. Instead, BlackBerry lost $84 million, dragged down by sluggish sales of its new Z10 touch- screen phone. The company is projecting another loss for the current quarter.

BlackBerry operates a research and development office in the Triangle.

Heins still views BlackBerry as too bloated in some areas, especially as its new operating system has now been built, so the company is also looking to shed staff through attrition, the person said.

App Goals

The targets established by Heins also cover growth in applications for the new BlackBerry 10 platform and deadlines to deliver new devices to carriers for testing, and apply to managers, who represent about 10 percent of BlackBerry’s employees, said the person familiar with the matter.

The company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, now has about 12,700 employees. The person declined to say how many jobs might be affected by the actions.

Adam Emery, a spokesman for BlackBerry, declined to comment on staffing decisions.

Sales of the Z10, introduced in January, missed analysts’ estimates by nearly a million units, contributing to last quarter’s loss. Best Buy Co. has cut the price of the Z10 to $49.99 from $199.99 with a two-year contract.

The current belt-tightening program, called Polaris, is about “really trimming and slimming the organization,” Heins told reporters at the company’s annual meeting on July 9.

“It’s not like X thousand people have to go,” he said at the time.

Stock Took Big Hit

BlackBerry plunged the most in 13 years after the company disclosed on June 28 that sales and profit numbers that missed analysts estimates. The shares have tumbled 36 percent since that report. Today, BlackBerry shares fell 1 percent to $9.24 in New York.

BlackBerry said this week that its head of U.S. sales left the company last month. Richard Piasentin, who was based in Waterloo, wanted to stay in Canada, so BlackBerry is now looking to replace him with a U.S.-based sales chief, the person familiar with the matter said. His post is not being eliminated, the person said.

Two other executives, T.A. McCann and Marc Gingras, have also left the company, BlackBerry said last week, without saying when they departed.