Banking giant HSBC is considering retiring its current BlackBerry fleet and replacing it with 200,000 iPhone 3G handsets, meaning an Apple cellphone for roughly two-thirds of its global employees.  However those with Apple shares shouldn’t get too excited; according to Brenton Hush, HSBC’s Australia and New Zealand chief information officer, this evaluation of new technology is pretty standard for the company:

“A decision on a piece of hardware like that would potentially be deployed, conservatively, to 200,000 people.  You know, it’s a big decision, especially when you have an existing fleet out there.  But it’s definitely something we are considering from a HSBC Group perspective.  We always explore the potential application of new technologies and this is no different” Brenton Hush, CIO, HSBC Australia and New Zealand

Nonetheless, it is relatively unusual for a company to so publicly confirm that it is looking at a specific product.  RIM, manufacturer of the BlackBerry that is the current handset of choice for HSBC, will no doubt be looking to make their case for its continued custom; in fact, it’s not too much of a stretch that making an announcement like this could be a strong bargaining tool for the bank.

Analysts suggested that the iPhone 3G – or, more importantly, the most recent major firmware upgrade, that adds Enterprise functionality such as Microsoft Exchange support – would be more tempting to corporate clients than the original handset.  HSBC is the first such company to suggest it could shift its mobile focus to Apple.