I would estimate that most phone vendor and high tech executives have a BlackBerry in addition to any other handsets they use. Many times such users don't even consider them a phone, but an email device.

As for failing to eat your own dogfood (or in this case, dogphone), Microsoft itself just a few weeks ago ended giving employee subsidies for such handsets as iPhones and G1s and other non WinMo handsets. Admit it, if a company like Microsoft of Apple began REQUIRING it's employees to only use their own products, we would be first up there calling them dictatorial. Not subsidising is one thing, but making it a rule would be too far.

Last point, Android may have a lot of potential but it hasn;t realised much of it yet. Schmidt using a BlackBerry isn't so much a stab in the back but a refreshing statement that he is not drinking the Android fanboy koolaid prevelant in some blogs.

Eh, when I worked at IBM, I checked out many IBM PCs. Even with the employee discount, they were too expensive for me. My first PC (a 486 25 MHz) was bought from a generic little store that custom built PCs.

While using your company's products is preferable, one size doesn't fit all. Something tells me that not everybody who works at Rolls Royce actually drives one. :D

Steve