“Australia’s flagship carrier Qantas will replace its entire fleet of BlackBerry devices with Apple iPhones, a move that presents more headaches for struggling handset maker Research In Motion,” Fran Foo reports for The Australian. “Qantas has a total of 1300 BlackBerrys in a variety of models. Dropping BlackBerry could save the airline millions of dollars a year. Airline crew will be among the first staff to use iPhones, Qantas chief information officer Paul Jones told The Australian.”
“‘There has been strong demand from Qantas employees for the iPhone, with a large majority of respondents to a recent survey indicating that this is their preferred smartphone option,'” Mr Jones said. ‘The iPhone offers a user-friendly interface and simple access to emails, contacts and calendars, as well as meeting all Qantas’s security requirements,'” Foo reports.
“Qantas is not the only big brand in Australia to hang up on BlackBerry. In January The Australian reported that IBM Australia planned stop purchasing BlackBerrys for corporate use,” Foo reports. “The move could save IBM up to $1.4 million a year, based on 500 BlackBerry users… RIM’s BlackBerry was once de rigueur but Apple’s iPhone has stolen its thunder thanks to its easy-to-use touchscreen and sleek design.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Buh-bye, beleaguered RIM.
[Attribution: Cult of Mac. Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Brawndo Drinker” and “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
But but but according to RIM’s CEO everything is just fine, as fine as Microsoft’s plan for multi-tablet architectures and Ultrabooks!
Thats because the CEO of crackberry is delusional from smoking too much high grade crack. The sooner this crackberry goes down the better.
‘Amateur Hour’ gets closer and closer to being over.
Why so much in savings? I thought the general consensus was that iPhones are overpriced devices. Is it possible that BlackBerry Enterprise Server software is the cause of higher expenses when using BlackBerries. The number of units is merely a drop in the enterprise bucket, but hopefully there is some trend forming where many businesses will drop BlackBerries and switch to iPhones. Any further collapse of RIM will really accelerate those changes.
BYOD
It’s actually because they don’t want RIMM sales reps aboard their planes. Far more trouble than they’re worth.
+∞!
But wait …. that assdumb PR jackass Doug Dawson at Nokia said they are cutting the price of the Lumia in half so that it is (now, drum roll) MORE ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE! That has to be a ‘game changer’, right.
Adios RIMM, and adios Jokia.
It now sounds like they are starting to use a Dewalt power nailer to put the nails in RIMMS coffin. Rapid fire please.
“The move could save IBM up to $1.4 million a year, based on 500 BlackBerry users”
That amounts to $2,800 per year per person. What the heck are those phones doing that they cost $2,800 bucks a year???
Exactly what I was wondering. That’s $233 per month that IBM was paying. Does anyone know how much RIM charges for all the bells & whistles for monthly service?
The irony is sooo thick. The once-touted feature of a Blackberry was its email. Now, that very same feature will soon accelerate the demise of RIM. What company is going to want to ride this downward spiral knowing that when RIM goes under, your email goes with it? The exodus is going to only accelerate from here.
Guess RIM’s guerilla marketing campaign worked, only people aren’t “waking up” in the way they hoped.