Marissa Mayer at a TechCrunch event (TechCrunch5o-2008 / Flickr)

Marissa Mayer is turning Yahoo! into Google — at least in terms of employee benefits. After giving free meals to everyone in HQ and other offices, the new Yahoo! chief executive is now considering giving iPhones and Android smartphones to everyone.

It's not that Yahoo! employees don't enjoy company-sponsored mobility already. They currently use BlackBerry devices, which some attribute to why Yahoo! hasn't caught on the mobile trend just yet. Sources say this is about to change, as Mayer has declared being open to giving everyone an iPhone or an Android device, reports All Things D.

“I have lots of phones,” Mayer told Business Insider in an interview once. Apparently, employees are not limited to their company-issued BlackBerry devices, too, with staff bringing their own smartphones — a mix of iPhones and Android — as a personal device. However, Yahoo!'s sponsoring an Android phone or iPhone would help boost morale among employees.

Morale is only a secondary concern, though. A source says that Mayer so believes that being identified with one platform will help “get consistency across the company.” This will help Yahoo! shine, especially if employees get familiarized with that particular platform and get to experience these as an end-user.

This will not come without serious coin, though. Yahoo! is expected to spend a couple million dollars to sponsor new employee smartphones, although this would be considered a small investment for a company still worth billions. It's an opportunity that should Yahoo! should not let pass if it wants to remain relevant in an increasingly mobile world.