Hasta La Gadget!

Twenty-five thousand Dell employees are about to lose their
BlackBerrys. The company will be migrating them over to its own smartphone
offering, the Dell Venue Pro. That handset will run Microsoft’s Windows Phone
7 and, eventually, Android.

Dell’s CFO Brian Gladden didn’t really hide his company’s
intentions, “Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re
kicking them out.”

According to Dell, the switch is also a cost-cutting
procedure. Migrating from BlackBerry will apparently reduce the company’s
mobile costs by 25 percent, since the company won’t have to use BlackBerry
servers.

RIM SVP Mark Guibert isn’t buying the company’s thrifty
explanation, however, “We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save
any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little
free publicity. Consider all the hard and soft costs of purchasing, deploying
and supporting new devices and new software inside a company.” Well, there’s no question that the company is looking for a little
bit of that.

Dell is also looking to get a bulk employee deal from
T-Mobile. 

Looks like the latest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system is dangerously close to getting a consumer release. Apple has begun sending Gold Masters of iOS 4.2 to developers.

According to reports, the new version of the software, which is due out this month, features a number of updates that will put the iPad’s feature set more on-par with that of the iPhone, including an update to the tablet’s multi-tasking functionality.

iOS 4.2 will also feature the previously announced social gaming hub Game Center; AirPlay, which lets users stream music wirelessly across the house; and AirPrint, which makes it possible to print from the iPhone and iPad over the air.

Google’s Android had a good third quarter. A really, really good third quarter. According to numbers from research firm Canalys, handsets running Google’s open OS comprised 44 percent of smartphones shipped in the US that quarter.

Apple grabbed the (distant) number two spot, at 26.2. RIM was close behind at 24.2. Microsoft, meanwhile, was in fourth at 3 percent of the market.

Android increased its market share by an impressive 11 percent over the previous quarter–Apple, meanwhile, only managed to increase by one percent. The smartphone market increased a full 95 percent worldwide, compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to the firm’s numbers.

Looks like Apple’s got a bad case of the Mondays. A bug in the iPhone 4’s software made a lot of Europeans late for work today, when the phone’s alarm failed to correct for Daylight Saving. The iPhone’s clock adjusted, moving an hour back for the time shift, but thanks to a bug, the alarm didn’t follow suit.

The bug is remarkably similar to one that affected Australia and New Zealand, last month. Apple announced that it was correcting the problem, but the fix apparently didn’t arrive in time to avoid the same problem on European handsets. The issue leaves concern that an update won’t arrive in time for the United States’ Daylight Saving on November 6th.

Apple has yet to address the issue as it pertains to European phones.