Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has made good on plans to offer employees a free smartphone, after a leaked internal memo detailed the launch of the company’s new ‘Smart Phones, Smart Fun!’ initiative, providing them with a choice of devices, which include the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920, as long as it isn’t a BlackBerry.
Business Insider took possession of the internal email, detailing what employees would be entitled to under the new plans. Inside the email, Mayer says that Yahoo will move off their Blackberry devices (which have traditionally been their corporate phones) an “on to smartphones in 22 countries”.
The decision apparently took into account the smartphone penetration rates around the world. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems power the top smartphones in nearly all markets, so it’s no surprise that employees will be offered an iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X or a HTC EVO 4G LTE.
With Windows Phone having overtaken RIM in 8 key countries, Yahoo will also offer the new Nokia Lumia 920, a device that launched just over a week ago with a 4.5” PureMotion HD+ display, wireless charging and PureView camera technology.
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In her email, Mayer explains the reasoning:
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.
It’s another setback for RIM, which is unable to ship its new BlackBerry 10 powered devices until next year, impacting its ability to compete against the likes of Apple, Samsung, Nokia and HTC. The wording of the email also suggests Yahoo has difficulty even classing BlackBerry handsets as smartphones (the jury is still out on that one).
Employees are invited to get ordering their new device from today, and Yahoo will cover the cost of their monthly plan for the data and the phone.
Both the iPhone 5 and the Lumia 920 haven’t shipped yet, but Nokia will be happy to see its new Windows Phone 8 device named on the list.
See also: Samsung and Nokia go after the iPhone 5, don’t realize they are using the same slogan
Image Credit: hoij
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