【英语科技】戴尔将向员工提供自家手机取代黑莓

In a direct shot at BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM, RIM.T), Dell Inc. (DELL) 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 (MSFT) new Windows Phone 7 software, in exchange for their BlackBerrys. Eventually, the company also will offer phones powered by Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android software.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

The switch begins next week and will save the company about 25% in mobile communication costs, primarily by eliminating the need for specialized BlackBerry servers, Gladden said.

Dell will begin marketing a service to its business clients within two weeks aimed at helping them make a similar switch.

The company is also talking with T-Mobile USA about purchasing voice minutes and monthly data in bulk, rather than individual employee plans.

Dell has been a distant laggard in the smartphone market, and demand for its phones may prove no stronger in the business market, where RIM continues to hold sway.

Still, the move underscores the threat the increasingly crowded field of powerful devices poses to RIM's long-running hold on corporate customers.

RIM wasn't available to comment. Gladden said he hasn't told RIM of his plans, adding, 'it's not clear to them the scope of what we're doing.'

Dell's move to help companies replace their BlackBerry systems with alternatives built around Microsoft or Google-powered products is part of Dell's strategy of working its way deeper into the market for selling services to business clients.

Services like setting up networks and managing assets offer higher margins than devices, which continue to get cheaper and cheaper, Gladden said. For that reason, he is willing to sell other manufacturers' devices as part of the wireless package.

'I'm not sure I care as much about the devices as the services,' he said. 'There's a services opportunity that we think is even bigger.'

While Gladden said not all companies will see as high a level of savings as Dell, he said small and medium businesses could cut a lot of costs by getting rid of specialized BlackBerry servers. RIM is unique in offering systems that use not only its handsets but also its servers, in addition to routing traffic through its own operations centers.

RIM's hold on that business is weakening, however, as competitors like Apple Inc. (AAPL) take aim at that lucrative market.

RIM has moved more aggressively to hang on to business customers, including offering free server software in February for small- and medium-sized companies worried about costs.

Dell has been working on the initiative for several months, Gladden said. It began with employee requests for more advanced devices and his search for ways to offset the cost.

(Roger Cheng contributed to this article.)

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Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

戴尔公司(Dell Inc., DELL)计划向旗下25,000名员工提供戴尔品牌智能手机，取代原先使用的黑莓(BlackBerry)产品，并在随后积极进行服务营销，促使其他公司效仿这一举措。此举对黑莓制造商Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)是一个直接打击。

戴尔公司首席财务长Brian Gladden接受采访时表示，作出这个决定显然是在与RIM进行竞争，因为公司抛弃了他们的产品。

戴尔公司将向员工提供装载微软(Microsoft Corp., MSFT)最新Windows Phone 7操作系统的Dell Venue Pro手机，取代原先的黑莓产品。戴尔公司最终还将推出装载谷歌(Google Inc.)平台的手机。

（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）