When Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer joined the company back in July, she knew she had a big job ahead of her. One of the changes she's implementing is a new program called 'Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun' and will see every single Yahoo! employee receive a brand new top-of-the-line smartphone for free. Business Insider says the news was confirmed via an internal memo and the program will cover both full time and part time employees. The idea behind this show of generosity is that Yahoo! wants staff using what Yahoo! users are using.
BI reports that employees will have a choice of five different top-end smartphones, including Apple's newly-announced but as yet unreleased iPhone 5. If you're working for Yahoo! and you're not an Apple fan, you can choose Samsung's Galaxy S III, an HTC One X, an HTC EVO 4G LTE, or Nokia's Lumia 920.
As if a free phone weren't a big enough perk, Yahoo! will also be covering the data and phone bills for all employees. It's not all good news, though, as it seems this new push for smartphones in every pocket will leave RIM's BlackBerry out in the cold. Not only is the company left off the list of choices for the 'Smart Phones, Smart Fun' program, but BI says Yahoo! is stopping IT support for BlackBerrys, too. Yahoo! is already taking orders from employees but we imagine those looking for an iPhone 5 or a Lumia 920 will have to wait a bit longer than staff choosing already available phones.
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