It seems that for every step that BlackBerry takes moving forward, it runs into a brick wall. It is not an impossible barrier, but it is one none-the-less and it requires devising a course of action to bypass it. It appears that BlackBerry may be running into another wall very soon.
The news from Washington, D.C. is that the White House is in the process of testing smartphones from both Samsung and LG. The tests are to see if the smartphones produced by these companies can be used internally. This is a spot that has had high honors for BlackBerry.
In fact, if I am not mistaken, when Obama took over the head seat in the Oval Office, he fought to keep his BlackBerry. According to the Huffington Post, in January 2009, the press secretary at the time, Robert Gibbs said that a compromise was reached that allowed the president to use his BlackBerry to keep in touch with senior staff and some personal friends.
The news, back then that he won one of his first battles was emphasized by showing lots of pictures of him walking through the halls of the White House typing away on his BlackBerry. Well, those days may soon be over. According to a report last week in the Wall Street Journal the White House is now testing Android smartphones for internal use.
Supposedly these tests are being carried out by a military unit that is in charge of the president’s communications. The tests are in the early stages and are being conducted by the White House Communications Agency.
I say “supposedly” above because an LG spokesman said that the company was not aware that any testing was going on. In addition, a Samsung spokesman declined to comment as to whether or not its smartphones were being tested. The spokesman said, "We have seen strong interest from the government sector and are working closely with various agencies to deploy pilot programs."
The military branch that usually deals with communications issues is the Department of Defense. Their response to questions about what devices will be used is "We can confirm that the White House Communications Agency, consistent with the rest of the Department of Defense, is piloting and using a variety of mobile devices."
As a matter of fact, towards the end of January I wrote that “One thing that is very clear is that BlackBerry is far from being out of the picture. In fact, it occupies most of the canvas. This is good news in deed for BlackBerry. The Department of Defense disclosed that there were 80,000 BlackBerry devices.”
The strange thing is that after fighting to keep his BlackBerry, it seems that the president uses and iPad as his device of choice for reading. Also, Obama has told the media that he has to stick with the BlackBerry because officials won’t let him have an iPhone for “security reasons.”
We know that BlackBerry has gone through many changes in the past five months. We have seen most of its senior executive staff replaced and cost cutting measures put into place. Unfortunately, we have also seen several foreign governments replace BlackBerry as its service of choice.
BlackBerry’s response to the rumors that it will be replaced in the White House is that "For more than a decade, BlackBerry has been securing the U.S. government's mobile communications and only BlackBerry is designed to meet the high-security needs of U.S. and allied government agencies."
In the past, BlackBerry's proprietary network has been widely considered the most secure among smartphone makers. However, in the past year, it has taken quite a hit, losing several of its government and corporate contracts.
On the other hand, phones running on Google inc.'s Android platform have worked to bolster their security. This is largely due to the fact that Google is working with third-party software companies. Apple has also stepped up its game to win over some of the contracts that BlackBerry has lost.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker
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