Australia's Treasury Department switches from BlackBerry to iPhone
In yet another blow to BlackBerry, the Australian Treasury Department has opted to switch away from the platform in favor of Apple's iPhone and iOS, with the transition expected to be completed within the next month and a half.
The Treasury will replace 250 BlackBerry devices with new iPhone 5s, reports ZDNet Australia, and is also planning to roll out an as-yet-undisclosed number of iPads to staff, ministers' offices and other agencies run by the department.
According to chief information officer Peter Alexander, the decision to switch came after the Defence Signals Directorate, Australia's signals intelligence agency, certified Apple's iOS for government applications. Alexander said the new devices would be controlled by device management platform AirWatch.
When asked about BlackBerry's announcement of BB10 and two new handsets, the Z10 and Q10, Alexander was unsure if the company would be able to make a comeback.
"BlackBerry has pretty limited capability," he said. "With the new one being launched, it's almost too late. Maybe it'll catch up, maybe it won't."
As for Android, the DSD has yet to certify a single device running Google's mobile operating system.
"In the coldest and cruelest way to look at it, there was no decision for us, really," Alexander said. "We looked at it in terms of usability and functionality, Android phones are perfectly adequate [?] but it was really a decision we didn't have much option in."
The Australian Treasury Department is the latest government body to make the leap to iOS. In Apple's quarterly conference call for the first quarter of 2013, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said a number of U.S. agencies are issuing iPhones "by the thousands," including NASA, NOAA, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation and Security Administration.
The Treasury will replace 250 BlackBerry devices with new iPhone 5s, reports ZDNet Australia, and is also planning to roll out an as-yet-undisclosed number of iPads to staff, ministers' offices and other agencies run by the department.
According to chief information officer Peter Alexander, the decision to switch came after the Defence Signals Directorate, Australia's signals intelligence agency, certified Apple's iOS for government applications. Alexander said the new devices would be controlled by device management platform AirWatch.
When asked about BlackBerry's announcement of BB10 and two new handsets, the Z10 and Q10, Alexander was unsure if the company would be able to make a comeback.
"BlackBerry has pretty limited capability," he said. "With the new one being launched, it's almost too late. Maybe it'll catch up, maybe it won't."
As for Android, the DSD has yet to certify a single device running Google's mobile operating system.
"In the coldest and cruelest way to look at it, there was no decision for us, really," Alexander said. "We looked at it in terms of usability and functionality, Android phones are perfectly adequate [?] but it was really a decision we didn't have much option in."
The Australian Treasury Department is the latest government body to make the leap to iOS. In Apple's quarterly conference call for the first quarter of 2013, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said a number of U.S. agencies are issuing iPhones "by the thousands," including NASA, NOAA, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation and Security Administration.
Comments
http://allthingsd.com/20130206/blackberry-z10-jumps-off-to-a-record-setting-start-in-canada-and-u-k/?mod=tweet
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
...
"In the coldest and cruelest way to look at it, there was no decision for us, really," Alexander said. "We looked at it in terms of usability and functionality, Android phones are perfectly adequate ..." - said no one with a clue.
Android being the malware-infested/fragmented beast it is, any company that chooses Android in its current iteration is simply someone that truly has no clue or business being in the position they are in. Probably some fandroid techie manager that hates a polished, packaged solution.
Heck, I'd choose iOS/Win8/Blackberry in that order before I allow Android a single step in the enterprise arena.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bro2ma
But the new Blackberry Z10 is off to a record setting start!
http://allthingsd.com/20130206/blackberry-z10-jumps-off-to-a-record-setting-start-in-canada-and-u-k/?mod=tweet
You forgot to add that the 'record' is relative to previous Blackberry releases. Yippee.
True, but BB did have some pretty big releases back in the day. If they can match those numbers they are doing well
True, but BB did have some pretty big releases back in the day. If they can match those numbers they are doing well[/quote
They didn't, the record is based on the fact that retailers ran out of units but the end of day one, but it doesn't include how many units each store had in stock, so in other words, no record broken
I would hope so. The smartphone market is nearly 50 times greater than their previous sales record.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
In order for these deployments, Apple has to have worked out the backend services to meet government requirements. Let's hope we see a push for those enterprise quality services to trickle down to the consumer level.
What do you mean by this? Why can't agencies develop and use their own backend services? Any institution (and developer) is free to deploy their own apps without going through the AppStore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bro2ma
But the new Blackberry Z10 is off to a record setting start!
http://allthingsd.com/20130206/blackberry-z10-jumps-off-to-a-record-setting-start-in-canada-and-u-k/?mod=tweet
I don't go by what All Things Digital have to say. I find their articles to be lacking. I almost don't even read their articles anymore. I don't have much faith in their journalism. to me, they are about the same level as The Star.
Psssst...don't use iOS Maps or else you'll find yourself 40km away from your intended destination.....without food, water or fuel.
This is a really cheep remark. Since I have the new map application I never had any problem with it in Australia! Discprinter, pull yourself together and admit you are using anecdotal evidences!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjtomlin
What do you mean by this? Why can't agencies develop and use their own backend services? Any institution (and developer) is free to deploy their own apps without going through the AppStore.
I'm talking from the perspective an ex-NeXT/ex-Apple engineer when we had contracts with the CIA, FBI and other departments, to Wall Street firms and we built custom kernels and addons for NeXTStep/Openstep and OS X.
I would think custom lock down features for the iOS rolled out by NASA or the NSA would be images you and I will not have clearance to use, but will be jointly developed per their requirements packages and thus jointly held IP. It would be nice with the heavy security credentials Apple has amassed in staffing that some of these designs move out of the theoretical computing research department and make it into iCloud, other distributed services and the client side.
Glad I'm apple.
What record setting? You link to an article that states: "The company declined to provide any hard sales numbers."
Nice pic over there though
Does the government really need to be buying iPhone 5s for their staff? Surely an iPhone 4 or 4S would suffice.