BlackBerry Ousted In Dell Owner Move-In Eviction

Now that Dell’s making smartphones, it figures its employees are better off using them than the BlackBerrys they’ve carried with them for so many years. And so the company is migrating some 25,000 BlackBerry users to its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 device, the Dell Venue Pro–a move, it says, that will reduce its mobile communication costs by a quarter.

So Dell’s eating its own dog food–a wise move, even without the cost savings. But what’s it going to do with 25,000 used BlackBerrys? The company’s not quite sure yet, but it’s got an idea or two. Said Dell CFO Brian Gladden, “We actually had a conversation last night around creating a site on eBay where we can actually sell these BlackBerry devices.”

If that’s truly the plan, Dell best get to work on that site while the used corporate BlackBerry market is still nascent–because a few other big companies are reportedly considering ditching the BlackBerry as well. Bank of America and Citigroup are both believed to be considering allowing their employees to use Apple’s iPhone or handsets running Google’s Android OS as an alternative to the BlackBerry–and between the two of them they have well over half a million employees.