In a bold move reportedly instigated by new CEO Marissa Mayer, aging web giant Yahoo plans to supply every one of its US employees with a new iOS, Android, or Windows Phone 8 device. According to an internal memo published by Business Insider on Saturday, the company is offering workers a choice between Apple’s iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HTC One X, the HTC Evo 4G LTE, and Nokia’s Lumia 920, with all bills taken care of. Yahoo is also discontinuing IT support for BlackBerry devices, seeking to move away from RIM’s enterprise-focused platform.
In words that will no doubt provoke a few winces in Waterloo, the memo emphasizes that “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.” Nokia has been quick to capitalize on the news, with media relations head Doug Dawson announcing on Twitter that the company will provide any Yahoo employee who chooses the Lumia 920 with a free charging plate:
Dear Yahoo! employees: The Lumia 920 is worth the wait…and we’ll throw in a wireless charging plate. Totally serious.
While the current offer appears to be restricted to Yahoo employees in the US, the memo notes that “Yahoo is moving off of blackberries as our corporate phones and on to smartphones in 22 countries.” It will be interesting to see whether ecosystem choice among the company’s workforce mirrors broader trends, or whether Nokia’s efforts will manage to create a new army of Windows Phone 8 evangelists.
Source: The Verge
