Dell cuts BlackBerry to promote its own

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. computer giant Dell said it would offer 25,000 employees Dell Venue Pro phones in exchange for their BlackBerry phones made by Research In Motion.

Some of the BlackBerry phones Dell employees carry were company-issued, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Dell said it would save money with the switch, explaining it was negotiating a deal with T-Mobile USA to buy service in bulk with unused minutes that would have some carryover value.

Dell also said it would begin to offer a plan to other business customers to have them switch from BlackBerry to the Dell Venue Pro, which runs on a Windows Phone 7 operating system.

Research In Motion senior vice president of corporate marketing Mark Guibert said Dell was using fuzzy math.

"We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity. Consider all the hard and soft costs of purchasing, deploying and supporting new devices and new software inside a company," he said.