Yahoo's free phone offer snubs RIM's BlackBerry

This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com's sister site, CNET.com.

Research In Motion is getting no respect from Marissa Mayer.

Yahoo's new CEO informed employees yesterday that they would be getting the new smartphone of their choice from Apple, Samsung, Nokia, or HTC. Through the program, Yahoos will have access to the industry's newest and hottest phones, including the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC Evo 4G LTE, and Nokia Lumia 920.

In addition to purchasing the phones, Yahoo will also pay employees' voice and data bills.

But what they won't pay for is a BlackBerry. Once the de rigueur instrument of business communications, RIM's smartphone was left off the list.

While the offer will likely go a long way toward boosting morale at the beleaguered Web pioneer, it's not likely to please employees at RIM, which has been struggling to regain lost market share and sales of its once-popular BlackBerry devices in an industry now ruled by Apple and Android.

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Understandably, Mayer is placing her faith in market leaders iOS and Android. But by choosing Windows Phone 8 -- a platform that hasn't even landed in consumers' hands -- over BlackBerry, she is essentially declaring RIM's platform obsolete and dead. And that pretty much reflects consumer opinion; RIM's market share has plummeted from 25 percent in September 2011 to just barely 1 percent in July, according to a recent Chitika study.

Mayer's memo, as published by Business Insider:

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


We're getting started right away and taking orders starting now

CNET contacted Yahoo for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

[stansult]

The source you mentioned (Chitika study) sais ot was 5% in Sept'11, not 25%

[pfezziwig]

80+ million users and growing in all the developing economies and Yahoo braintrust think its time to abandon RIMM just before launching the most modern OS for an outdated iPhone, its clear the Yahoo board members are more interested in good PR over substance, good luck yahoo in all the growing economies of the world, you'll need it.

[grimesdr53]

Well what did you expect! RIM as Nokia took for granted the iPhone and Android devices, and now both are playing catch up. Yes maybe the BB devices have functions like NFC, but that is not enough to stop the bleeding of corporate customers and consumers. Nokia has taken the steps to turn itself around in late 2010 which should have happened back in 2009. Where as RIM is just now realizing that they have miss-read the market place again. Take for EXample BES Server vs Mobile Fusion a real mixed bag solution which was and still lacking what customers are looking for. RIM needs to can the rest of the executive team and board and hire leaders with innovative thinking, but it also be too late to save RIM. I think the BB devices will not be enough to turn RIM around and get users to come back unless they can walk on water.

Having NFC technology built in will be a big advantage in the very near future.

[mrfreetruth]

YaWho? really? First of all this is no-news made up by pro-apple spin doctors to take away the fact iphone5 CANNOT do data and voice at the same time and has no NFC which even the blackberry bold 9900 already has. Plus the iphone5 can not do many of the features thatcurrent phones on the market does. Once again another bashing article by cbc bashing rim. Hoiw much does apple pay you ? I am going to BOYCOTT CBC

[ScorpioJax66]

The article talks about other device makers than Apple and says nothing more favorable towards Apple over the other device makers that Yahoo! has chosen to use so it can not be said this is a pro Apple article and CBS (Who is CBC?) has nothing to do with Yahoo!'s decision beyond reporting it. Android phones can do data and voice at the same time and so can iPhones. It is the network, not the devices that puts a limit on doing voice and data at the same time. The iPhone 5 when running on a CSM based networks will do both at the same time. NFC is useless to most mobile users since you have to be next to someone you want to share with. That kind of limitation kinds of goes against the whole concept of going mobile and being global. You can not use NFC to share someone on the other side of the Country or world. Keeping all you employees in the same room so they could utilize NFC would make them useless to do any real business functions. In the real world, NFC is only a benefit for teenage girls. Kudos on the double post. Makes you twice the idiot.

[mrfreetruth]

YaWho? really? First of all this is no-news made up by pro-apple spin doctors to take away the fact iphone5 CANNOT do data and voice at the same time and has no NFC which even the blackberry bold 9900 already has. Plus the iphone5 can not do many of the features thatcurrent phones on the market does. Once again another bashing article by cbc bashing rim. Hoiw much does apple pay you ? I am going to BOYCOTT CBC

[Netmusketeer]

That pretty much sums it up for RIM. Who would have thought BlackBerry would go so far as to have just one percent of the market? There used to be days when companies gave their employees BlackBerry as their corporate phones.

If Nokia ever survives their decline and Nokia Lumnia proved to be a iPhone and Galaxay contender, chances are there will be no place for RIM in the smartphone industry.