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Dell ditches BlackBerry in favor of Windows Phone 7

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 6:53PM EST
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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.

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Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.