Blackberry or an Apple
With BlackBerry about to launch the Z10 at the end of this week — the flagship of its BlackBerry 10 line — this isn't the best time for one of the company's largest customers to bow out. Especially not when that customer is the U.S. military.
But that's about to happen, according to a report from Electronista. The site has "well-placed sources" inside the Department of Defense's mobile device testing program, currently underway. Those sources say the Pentagon is about to place a massive order for 650,000 iOS devices to replace aging BlackBerry phones.
As soon as the government's sequester is over, then, the DoD looks set to order 210,000 iPhones, 200,000 iPods, 120,000 iPads and 100,000 iPad minis. These would replace the 470,000 BlackBerry devices currently in use — half of them at the Pentagon itself, half at field offices around the world.
Previous reports suggested BlackBerry was a casualty of the sequester — in that the Pentagon had to find cutbacks, and couldn't afford to give the BlackBerry 10 platform a thorough security check. It was already testing iOS and Android devices; apparently Apple won that round.
Since all of those BlackBerry devices would have to be replaced anyway — there's no backwards compatibility with BlackBerry 10 — it seems the top brass may have decided to cut its losses and move to the oldest, most-tested mobile platform currently available.
The Guardian reported earlier Wednesday that a UK security firm rejected the Z10 as not secure enough for the British government. But BlackBerry vigorously denied the report, and it has now been removed from the Guardian website.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins took a swipe at Apple earlier this week, claiming its mobile platform was no longer innovating fast enough.
By chris taylor
But that's about to happen, according to a report from Electronista. The site has "well-placed sources" inside the Department of Defense's mobile device testing program, currently underway. Those sources say the Pentagon is about to place a massive order for 650,000 iOS devices to replace aging BlackBerry phones.
As soon as the government's sequester is over, then, the DoD looks set to order 210,000 iPhones, 200,000 iPods, 120,000 iPads and 100,000 iPad minis. These would replace the 470,000 BlackBerry devices currently in use — half of them at the Pentagon itself, half at field offices around the world.
Previous reports suggested BlackBerry was a casualty of the sequester — in that the Pentagon had to find cutbacks, and couldn't afford to give the BlackBerry 10 platform a thorough security check. It was already testing iOS and Android devices; apparently Apple won that round.
Since all of those BlackBerry devices would have to be replaced anyway — there's no backwards compatibility with BlackBerry 10 — it seems the top brass may have decided to cut its losses and move to the oldest, most-tested mobile platform currently available.
The Guardian reported earlier Wednesday that a UK security firm rejected the Z10 as not secure enough for the British government. But BlackBerry vigorously denied the report, and it has now been removed from the Guardian website.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins took a swipe at Apple earlier this week, claiming its mobile platform was no longer innovating fast enough.
By chris taylor
Comments
Post a Comment
The opinions expressed by Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of the Google account holder or any employer thereof. Google account holder is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Bloggers.