Beyond BlackBerry: Pentagon opens door to iPhones, Android devices
In another blow to RIM’s fortunes, the U.S. Department of Defense may be willing to consider smartphones other than BlackBerries if they can meet the government’s tough security rules.
The DOD is inviting vendors to bid on software to secure non-RIM smartphones and tablets, according to a report by Reuters. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) may award a contract in April 2013. The contract would cover 162,500 devices to start and ultimately reach 262,500.
The request for proposals was posted Oct. 22, the day the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency announced it will end its contract with RIM to adopt iPhones instead, according to Reuters.
The DOD is not scrapping its BlackBerries, but expanding the devices it may allow for use. The Reuters story quoted a DOD spokesperson: “DISA is managing an enterprise email capability that continues to support large numbers of RIM devices while moving forward with the department’s planned mobile management capability that will support a variety of mobility devices.”
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