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US NOAA ditches BlackBerry, chooses Apple's iPhone and iPad

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the latest government organization to adopt Apple's iPhone and iPad after ditching Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

A memo sent out by NOAA Chief Information Officer Joseph F. Klimavicz, obtained by Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, reveals that the organization will continue support for the BlackBerry until May 12 of this year. Going forward, workers will be supplied with new iPhones and iPads.

Specifically, the organization will support the iPhone 4 running iOS 5 and up, along with the iPad 2 running iOS 5 and later. The memo was issued on Feb. 3.

Last May, The Washington Post described a trend in the U.S. federal government, in which agencies have been abandoning BlackBerry and turning to the iPhone. In addition, some parts of the government have been eschewing laptop purchases and are instead equipping public employees with iPads.

Apple's gains in the workplace have been in both the public and private sector, and the NOAA switch is yet another example of how RIM continues to lose ground in the corporate world — a market where the BlackBerry once reigned. Earlier this week, AppleInsider exclusively reported that Halliburton, one of the largest energy service corporations in the world, plans to phase out thousands of employee BlackBerrys in favor of the iPhone and Apple's iOS platform.

Halliburton made the decision after conducting "significant research" into both Apple's mobile platform as well as Google's Android mobile operating system. But the company "determined that the iOS platform offered the best capabilities, controls and security for application development."

During Apple's most recent quarterly earnings conference call, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said that "nearly all" of the Fortune 500 now approve and support the iPhone on their company networks.



82 Comments

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solipsismx 13 Years · 19562 comments

This is not good news RiM. They probably thought even with the iPhone's rise in the consumer market that there Blackberry was still the best option for corporate users.

PS: Has Android-based devices been picked up by any governments or corporations as their primary OS of choice?

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christophb 15 Years · 1479 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX

This is not good news RiM. They probably thought even with the iPhone's rise in the consumer market that there Blackberry was still the best option for corporate users.

PS: Has Android-based devices been picked up by any governments or corporations as their primary OS of choice?

I think it means the iPad 3 will be waterproof up to 100m.

Now if my business cards I ordered from Staples that say the word Analyst would show up. . .

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sflocal 16 Years · 6139 comments

As if millions of fandroids and rim jobs suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Would love to have been a fly on that wall listening-in on NOAA's conversation:

"Let's get rid of Blackberry's. They're a sinking ship."

"Okay, what are our options?"

"Windows 8"?
"No one's buying em, and no one's really making them."

"How's about an Android phone?"
"Everyone's got em, everyone hates em."

"But they're cheaper!"
"Yes, but they end up costing more in lost productivity when they are pwned by malware distributed by an unsecured app market.

"How's about support?"
"We could get the new model when the old one breaks in three months."

"What about OS support?"
"There is none. Each of the gazillion vendors make their own flavor, with inconsistent UI's, with a myriad of different OS levels. They just want you to buy their new model when there's a problem. They essentially forget about you after the purchase."

"Okay, How's about the iPhone?"
"Everyone loves them, they last forever, and it just works. Only the tech-head, geek minorities hate them because they work so well, it essentially eliminates needing one to troubleshoot the device".

"Okay, let's start slow and order 100K units." This just about sums up what everyone else does. No wonder AAPL is doing so well.

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jragosta 17 Years · 10472 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal

As if millions of fandroids and rim jobs suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Would love to have been a fly on that wall listening-in on NOAA's conversation:

"Let's get rid of Blackberry's. They're a sinking ship."

"Okay, what are our options?"

"Windows 8"?
"No one's buying em, and no one's really making them."

"How's about an Android phone?"
"Everyone's got em, everyone hates em."

"But they're cheaper!"
"Yes, but they end up costing more in lost productivity when they are pwned by malware distributed by an unsecured app market.

"How's about support?"
"We could get the new model when the old one breaks in three months."

"What about OS support?"
"There is none. Each of the gazillion vendors make their own flavor, with inconsistent UI's, with a myriad of different OS levels. They just want you to buy their new model when there's a problem. They essentially forget about you after the purchase."

"Okay, How's about the iPhone?"
"Everyone loves them, they last forever, and it just works. Only the tech-head, geek minorities hate them because they work so well, it essentially eliminates needing one to troubleshoot the device".

"Okay, let's start slow and order 100K units." This just about sums up what everyone else does. No wonder AAPL is doing so well.

You forgot:
"But it runs Flash"
"It has a 5" screen"
"It is open"

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christophb 15 Years · 1479 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta

You forgot:
"But it runs Flash"
"It has a 5" screen"
"It is open"

and a PEN!