Dell ditches BlackBerry in favor of Windows Phone 7

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In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dell CFO Brian Gladden announced that the company would be replacing current employee phones with its own devices. According to Gladden, approximately 25,000 Dell employees will soon ditch their BlackBerry smartphones in favor of company issued Dell Venue Pro handsets. The Windows Phone 7-powered Venue Pro won’t be employees’ only option, however, as Dell will also soon offer Android devices to its employees. Beyond obvious reasons for the switch — Dell competes with BlackBerry maker RIM now that it is in the cell phone business — Gladden also claims the company will save roughly 25% on communication costs by eliminating the need for BlackBerry servers. Dell’s push to move people from BlackBerry devices to its own line of handsets isn’t just internal, either; the company plans to offer services to its business customers within the next two weeks that will assist them in transitioning from BlackBerry phones to Dell’s own devices. As to what Dell plans to do with 25,000 soon to be unused BlackBerrys, Gladden joked that the company is toying with the idea of selling them on eBay.

Via wsj