Home Depot abandoning BlackBerry platform in favor of Apple's iPhone and iOS
EXCLUSIVE: Home improvement retailer Home Depot plans to replace thousands of BlackBerry smartphones issued to its managerial and corporate staffers with versions of Apple's iPhone 4S, AppleInsider has learned.
National chain Home Depot will abandon BlackBerry phones in favor of Apple's iPhone (image via Home Depot)
People familiar with the big-box retailer's plans said the company has already begun the process of abandoning the Blackberry platform for Apple's iOS, specifically for store managers and all corporate level employees.
A representative for the home improvement chain confirmed the news to AppleInsider, saying the move will displace roughly 10,000 Blackberry smartphones.
"We are replacing our current base of BlackBerry technology with iPhones," the representative said, clarifying that the move applies only to store managers, district managers, other corporate-level staffers, and field ops.
As of the third quarter of 2012, the Atlanta, Georgia-based corporation operated some 2,252 retail stores across the United States, Canada, China, and Mexico, making it the world's world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. Managers at those stores will see their current BlackBerry handsets replaced with iPhones in the coming weeks, according to those familiar with the matter.
Home Depot, which is also the fifth largest retailer in the world, earning $947 million in profit on $18.13 billion in revenue in its most recently reported quarter, is the latest in a series of corporate and regulatory heavyweights to dump the BlackBerry platform that once served as the de facto standard in mobile enterprise technology.
In October of last year, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency announced it would ditch BlackBerry in a move that would see it purchase $2.1 million iPhones for its more than 17,600 employees. Similar announcements followed from the National Transportation Safety Board and, more recently, Australia's Treasury Department.
National chain Home Depot will abandon BlackBerry phones in favor of Apple's iPhone (image via Home Depot)
People familiar with the big-box retailer's plans said the company has already begun the process of abandoning the Blackberry platform for Apple's iOS, specifically for store managers and all corporate level employees.
A representative for the home improvement chain confirmed the news to AppleInsider, saying the move will displace roughly 10,000 Blackberry smartphones.
"We are replacing our current base of BlackBerry technology with iPhones," the representative said, clarifying that the move applies only to store managers, district managers, other corporate-level staffers, and field ops.
"We are replacing our current base of BlackBerry technology with iPhones," a representative for Home Depot confirmed.The initiative will not yet impact the approximately 60,000 rugged Motorola smartphones (34,000+ so-called "First Phones" and 25,000+ "First Phone Jrs") used by store employees. Those devices will remain in operation on retail store floors for mobile point-of-sale, analytical, walkie-talkie, and traditional telephony purposes.
As of the third quarter of 2012, the Atlanta, Georgia-based corporation operated some 2,252 retail stores across the United States, Canada, China, and Mexico, making it the world's world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. Managers at those stores will see their current BlackBerry handsets replaced with iPhones in the coming weeks, according to those familiar with the matter.
Home Depot, which is also the fifth largest retailer in the world, earning $947 million in profit on $18.13 billion in revenue in its most recently reported quarter, is the latest in a series of corporate and regulatory heavyweights to dump the BlackBerry platform that once served as the de facto standard in mobile enterprise technology.
In October of last year, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency announced it would ditch BlackBerry in a move that would see it purchase $2.1 million iPhones for its more than 17,600 employees. Similar announcements followed from the National Transportation Safety Board and, more recently, Australia's Treasury Department.
Comments
And the stock will get hammered on this news. /s
Wow this sucks so much for BB. I mean these companies had all this time to ditch them but they did not do it, just to wait till BB just released new phones and new OS to do so. WTF?
1. Maybe their contracts just expired.
2. Maybe they wanted to see if the new phones would be worthwhile - and decided that they weren't.
3. Maybe they just wanted to punish RIM for letting them down.
Who knows?
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtacee1990
Wow this sucks so much for BB. I mean these companies had all this time to ditch them but they did not do it, just to wait till BB just released new phones and new OS to do so. WTF?
Yes very tough news for BB.
Even tougher if the decision was made after evaluating the new BlackBerry Z10 phone.
Interesting that Home Depot chose the iPhone 4s.
For their job the iPhone 4 would probably do the job just as well!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshA
Yes very tough news for BB.
Even tougher if the decision was made after evaluating the new BlackBerry Z10 phone.
Interesting that Home Depot chose the iPhone 4s.
For their job the iPhone 4 would probably do the job just as well!
Agreed, we only use the BB's for email and taking pictures of things that need to be fixed.
The cost difference is almost insignificant, so why not choose the 4S which is better in almost every way?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
This is why BB is still pretty fucked. No major company worth its salt is going to switch to the new BBs as its a completely new device and platform. At the very least they will wait until v2 to assess, and in that time iOS will make more and more headway into the enterprise as an extremely mature and tested platform. Some large companies who have been asessing the iPhone since 2008 are just now deciding to switch.
I was in Lowe's a few months ago and they were already using the iPhone for inventory. All the floor sales staff were carrying specially equipped iPhones with laser bar code readers. Home Depot is playing catch up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bro2ma
The snow ball is getting bigger and bigger
That's no snow ball. It's already become an avalanche.
What! How come Home Depot isn't waiting for BB10 to come into its own? I hear that Z10 is the wicked bomb.
/s
Wish it was Lowes (just read an earlier post - happy days)
Maybe ACE hardware will but up the handsets? They can use then as selling points to get customers to come into the store and buy stuff. Buy a cordless drill and get a blackberry. Woo hoo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtacee1990
Wow this sucks so much for BB. I mean these companies had all this time to ditch them but they did not do it, just to wait till BB just released new phones and new OS to do so. WTF?
While Blackberry is still our primary mobile platform, we have iPhone and Android phones that we are testing as replacements. We have no plans to buy additional Blackberries and we should be ready to make the switch by the end of the year. This is not a decision that was made last week, this is something that has been in the works for close to two years. Honestly it was the Playbook that had the IT manager green-light the evaluation of the other platforms, and the outage in October 2011 when management decided we were leaving Blackberry. Changes this big take time. Home Depot is far from the last major company to leave the BB platform. Honestly, if the BB10 had come out a year ago some companies may have stayed with Blackberry, but at this point it is too little two late.
The Blackberry platform as we know it is mortally wounded, the only question is how long will it take to bleed out. While the company may be able to be saved if it can reinvent itself, it will take a Hail Mary play like the iPod was for Apple to do so.
Large companies and the government buy cell phone service in a different way, their plans are completely unbundled. They usually pay for the phone unsubsidized. Then they pay a fee per month per line. Then they pay several cents per minute actually used.
Perhaps "analysts" can negatively spin this stating "the iPhone 5 fails to gain traction at Home Depot"
Quote:
Originally Posted by jungmark
More bad news for Apple. /s
Perhaps "analysts" can negatively spin this stating "the iPhone 5 fails to gain traction at Home Depot"
It's really sad when a company's best and newest smart phone loses out to a competitor's previous model...
whoops-y