Poor RIM. Even in the enterprise space, where the company’s secure OS has managed to keep them relevant, companies in-the-know are beginning to come around to the idea that iPhone and Android smartphones can be used for business. It seems the security of Android, iPhone, and even Windows Phone devices has finally caught up to the high standards of business.
This weekend, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer sent an email to all Yahoo full-time and part-time employees informing them that they will be getting a free smartphone. Even better, Yahoo employees get their choice of the most advanced smartphones on the market for each different OS – except for BlackBerry. Business Insider was able to obtain a copy of the email, which announces the “Smart Phones, Smart Fun!” program:
We have a very exciting update to share with you today – we are announcing Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun! As of today, Yahoo is moving off of blackberries as our corporate phones and on to smartphones in 22 countries. A few weeks ago, we said that we would look into smartphone penetration rates globally and take those rates into account when deciding on corporate phones. Ideally, we’d like our employees to have devices similar to our users, so we can think and work as the majority of our users do.
Moving forward, we’ll offer you a choice of devices as well as provide monthly plans for the data and phone.
The smartphone choices that we are including in the program are:
* Apple iPhone 5
* Android:
– Samsung Galaxy S3
– HTC One X
– HTC EVO 4G LTE
* Windows Phone 8:
– Nokia Lumia 920
You will notice the email specifically states that Yahoo is moving away from BlackBerry phones, which it has historically used. In addition, employees are not even given the choice of receiving a BlackBerry as their smartphone of choice. It’s a glaring omission, given that, as of last month, RIM still holds around 10% of all smartphone subscribers while Microsoft’s Windows Phones hold only 4%. However, where Microsoft has been gaining or holding on to small amounts of market share with Windows Phone, RIM has been losing its chunk of the smartphone market at a breakneck pace this year. As Mayer said in her email, Yahoo wants its employees to use devices that Yahoo users do, and it appears that Yahoo users don’t prefer BlackBerry anymore.