From the Wired Article:
Army Picks Android to Power Its First SmartphoneQuote:
But thats not to say the current phone prototype will be what the Army ends up issuing soldiers. And its also not to say that whatever makes it through testing will definitely rely on Android as its operating system. Thats all a ways away.
But the point of building the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment is to have a common framework for designing apps that can run on any manner of devices and thats an early indication that the Armys leaning toward Android devices, especially in this age of budget efficiencies, rather than iOS, which is tied to one specific (i)Phone. Score one for open architecture.
This tells me that this is a prototype project to prove the concept.
If the concept is proven, and the project
funded, there would likely be an initial order for 2.2 million smart phones (based on a standing army of 550,000).
Not too shabby -- including the prestige and potential for sales of similar OTS devices for their private lives, family, etc.
However, the way I read it, only the prototype project is
funded, and likely, involves less than 1,000 devices.
If the full project gets
funded, it will likely go to bid -- with, or without options for
sole-sourcing.
Part of the bid process requires the responders to demonstrate their capability to fulfill the contract (quality, cost, performance, schedule, etc.)-- should they win.
The bid process usually consists of several iterations -- culminating in a request for a
Best and Final bid from selected [potential] vendors.
If the US Army truly wants to get into the business of building and maintaining a mobile device operating system -- then almost any OS would do.
If, however, the US Army, wants to implement a solution taking advantage of hardware/software state-of-the-art at a given point in time -- then this is, likely, a one-time implementation... not, necessarily, setting precedent for future projects.
All that said, if the
full project does get
funded --
Apple could have advantages as to proven performance and advantages of a sole-source.
