A power struggle at Vancouver's Olympic headquarters has left staff divided into two camps: those who get to keep their BlackBerrys and those who don't.

Since Waterloo-based Research In Motion, maker of the beloved communication device, is not a sponsor, Olympic staffers are being forced to turn in their BlackBerrys for an Omnia or a Vice, both made by South Korea's Samsung, official provider of wireless communications equipment for the 2010 Olympics.

The move has been met with a thumbs down by some staffers at the organizing committee, VANOC, because they're frustrated with the touch-screen devices and say key functions like sending and reading e-mail are nearly impossible.

Officially, VANOC downplays the concerns, saying staffers with Samsungs just need to get used to the product.

"The value in kind we get is fully useful, meets our needs and fully offsets the budget we would otherwise have to spend," said Dave Cobb, deputy executive director of the organizing committee.

Still, concerted lobbying at VANOC headquarters has meant a compromise allowing some staffers to discreetly keep their BlackBerry device, a rare breach of official sponsor protocol.

The 64 sponsors of the Games are covering off more than half of VANOC's $1.75 billion operating budget, commitments they make in cash and goods to give products exclusive status at the Games.

"Getting value in kind for something is in our budget, [it's] as good as cash for us," Cobb said.

He said VANOC built its budget in part by getting sponsors that could provide the goods they needed to put on the Games.

Value-in-kind deals are how VANOC got the 25,000 volunteer uniforms from HBC, more than 5,000 mattresses for the athletes village from Sleep Country Canada, more than 4,600 cars from GM and thousands of litres of hand sanitizer from ALDA Pharmaceuticals–all for free.

Samsung will provide 9,200 Omnia and Vice units for VANOC, the International Olympic Committee and assorted VIPs to use during the Games.

"We expect the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to generate more wireless content than any previous Olympics," said a statement from Howard Thomas, director of corporate marketing for Samsung Electronics Canada.

"It is our goal to help people–from athletes to spectators, officials to volunteers–capture and share this content with others around the world."