Dell to Take on RIM

Shayndi Raice, reporting for the WSJ:

In a direct shot at BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Dell Inc. plans to move its 25,000 employees over to its own line of smartphones and then aggressively market a service to help other companies do the same.

“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” the computer maker’s chief financial officer, Brian Gladden, said in an interview.

Dell employees will be offered the upcoming Dell Venue Pro — which runs Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows Phone 7 software — in exchange for their BlackBerrys. Eventually, the company also will offer phones powered by Google Inc.’s Android software.

Embrace both Windows Phone and Android, ignore the iPhone, and target RIM. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but it sounds like a good strategy for Dell.

★ Friday, 5 November 2010