We recently reported that the Pentagon was reviewing the performance of different smartphone devices and tablets and that it might soon give clearance to them for use by its staff. It has now been confirmed that the U.S. Defense Department has given clearance to the devices made by Samsung and BlackBerry and these devices can now be used by the staff. However, technology giant Apple is yet to gain an approval from the Pentagon, but it is expected that the company behind the iPhone and iPad will get the clearance shortly.
Reuters quoted Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman, as saying:
“This is a significant step towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems.”
He further said:
“We are pleased to add Blackberry 10 and the Samsung Knox version of Android to our family of mobile devices supporting the Department of Defense. We look forward to additional vendors also participating in this process.”
The decision to allow the staff to use different mobile phones is in line with the Pentagon’s effort to stay up to date with the latest technological changes. By allowing the staff to access smartphones made by different companies, the Pentagon will also be able to collect feedback and review the companies’ performance in future.
According to Reuters, there are about 600,000 users of smartphones, tablets and other such devices at the Pentagon. The Defense Department currently has around 470,000 BlackBerry users, 41,000 Apple users and 8,700 Android users. Earlier when the approval was not given and the matter was still under review, the Pentagon’s spokesperson had indicated that Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry would get clearance soon. Pickart said earlier:
“We are working towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of devices and operating systems, to include Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry. A key objective of the plan is to establish a department-wide mobile enterprise solution that permits the use of the latest commercial technology such, as smartphones and tablets.”
Since BlackBerry and Samsung have already received a nod from the department it is expected that Apple will also get clearance pretty soon now.
Photo: TravelOrders
Samsung Makes Terrible Parody of PSY’s “Gangnam Style” for Launch of Galaxy S IV in India
Samsung Galaxy S IV’s 16GB Version Actually Has Only 8.49GB of Internal Storing Capacity
Lunches So Good Kids Can’t Ignore Them
Invigorating Ginger Smoothie
The U.K.’s Youngest Parents Ever
The new hair Jennifer Lawrence