Dell let the news drop that they’ve decided to replace 25,000 Blackberry smartphones with Dell Venture Pro, which runs Microsoft Windows Phone 7:
“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer, told the Wall Street Journal. He went on to say the company will offer its staff the ability to use phones running Google Inc.’s Android software eventually as well.
I’m going to guess that those Android phones are going to have Dell logos on them too. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. One of the reasons for the switch is cost:
Dell should save about 25% in mobile communication costs by avoiding having to pay for BlackBerry’s Enterprise servers, Mr. Gladden said.
For RIM, that’s 25,000 less customers. How do they feel about this? Here’s a brief statement from RIM:
“We find it highly unlikely that [Dell] will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity,” said Mr. Guibert in a statement emailed to the Financial Post. “Consider all the hard and soft costs of purchasing, deploying and supporting new devices with new software inside a company. Plus consider the fact that BlackBerry smartphones are far more efficient with respect to data usage, which means that their monthly service charges will also likely increase.”
RIM does have a point. Dell wants to sell phones. So what better way to get attention then to kick your main opposition in the nether regions by replacing them and telling the world about it. Conversely, Windows Phone 7 and Android phones don’t require something like Blackberry Enterprise Server as long as you’re running MS Exchange, so Dell may have a point as well. This is a fight that is worth watching. We’ll see what happens in the only arena that matters: Sales.
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This entry was posted on November 7, 2010 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Dell, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Dell Dumps Blackberries For Their Own Phones…. Why Is This A Surprise?
Dell let the news drop that they’ve decided to replace 25,000 Blackberry smartphones with Dell Venture Pro, which runs Microsoft Windows Phone 7:
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This entry was posted on November 7, 2010 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Dell, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.