RIM, now BlackBerry, have had a difficult few years. A dwindling market share, coupled with high profile outages, has caused the consumer to lose faith in the once powerful platform. But for RIM, the Enterprise was always going to be a steady source or income, wasn’t it?
Well, maybe not for long. The US Department of Defense (DoD) has announced plans to order 630,000 iDevices to add to their ranks. While this isn’t really newsworthy, it’s the 210,000 various iPhone models that will replace the current crop of BlackBerry handsets that catches the eye most of all.
BlackBerry was always known for their secure device for mobile email and data in the past. But times have changed and Google, Apple and Microsoft have caught up to, and in this case have surpassed, BlackBerry at their own usually reputable game. According to Electonista, the BB10 OS just isn’t compatible with the DoD’s new mobile plan that was introduced last month. In fact, BlackBerries running OS 7.1 would have been incompatible with the same mobile plan.
With 470,000 BlackBerries in use within the DoD, having nearly half that number retired due to iPhone use will be a blow to BlackBerry’s hopes of a resurgence with BB10 devices. Just this week, both BlackBerry and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had to both state that the OS had not yet been put through its paces for secure government use.
So, where does that leave the BlackBerry platform? With the funds gone, the DoD will likely not be investing in any new BlackBerry handsets anytime soon. And don’t forget, this puts Apple in a very strong position in a massive enterprise site, giving them bragging rights over Google and Microsoft in the Mobile space.
Source: Tech Crunch | Image: BlackBerry
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