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Dell asks employees to swap their BlackBerrys with Venue Pro
by Deepika Garg - November 6, 2010 - comments
By giving its own phones to the employees, Dell is looking to make significant savings in mobile communication costs.
Dell is looking to put its new smartphone in place of the long-established BlackBerry, and is starting with its own employees. The computer maker is going to replace 25,000 BlackBerry devices used by its employees with Windows 7-running Dell smartphones, it confirmed on Friday.
Dell employees using BlackBerrys will be asked to surrender their phones in return of the new Venue Pro, which will come with both voice and data plans. The remaining 71,000 employees will also be given Dell phones but only with voice plans.
Cost cutting
By giving its own phones to the employees, Dell is looking to make significant savings in mobile communication costs.
The BlackBerry switch alone is going to save the company around 25 percent in mobile communications costs, mostly by eliminating the costs of its BlackBerry servers, Dell’s Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden told The Wall Street Journal.
We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely that they were looking for a little free publicity.–RIM
Dell will start this program shortly and it’ll take several months to complete, spokesman David Frink confirmed to CNET.
The Venue Pro with Windows 7 will be the first phone provided internally, but Dell will eventually offer its employees Android phones as well, said Gladden.
Dell trying to gain ground in smartphone market
Dell has made a late entry in the smartphone market and currently offers the Android-running Aero, as well as the 5-inch, Android-running Streak, which it considers a tablet.
The Windows 7-running Venue Pro will be launched this coming holiday season and be offered to Dell employees in exchange for the RIM handsets.
“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we're kicking them out,” Gladden told the Journal.
Dell is planning to extend the same switch to its customers as well. The company will begin marketing the service to its business clients within the next two weeks.
RIM disagrees with Dell’s decision
However, RIM is not ready to buy Dell’s cost cutting explanation for the switch. In a separate WSJ article, the BlackBerry maker said the company is changing its mobile system to promote its own devices, and that it won’t really bring down any costs.
“We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely that they were looking for a little free publicity,” said Mark Guibert, the senior vice president of corporate marketing at RIM.