Earlier this week we got reports from Electronista that the Pentagon is going to drop the usage of BlackBerry devices and move on to iOS devices with a huge order of around 650,000 iOS devices with a mix of iPads, iPad minis and iPhones for battlefield usage and usage in the Pentagon office. But a report from PC Magazine on Thursday confirmed that the Pentagon has not taken any such decision yet according to DoD spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart. He also said that Pentagon is on a mission to enable usage of multiple devices using the mobile management capability as he feels that there is no one perfect mobile OS that fits everyone and each person should be able to choose his device that has to be used in the Pentagon.
Last February, Appleinsider confirmed news given out by Pickart saying that the Department of Defence is opening its networks to iOS and Android devices and it is currently testing the platforms as a viable option which would be confirmed by 2014. The department currently uses around 600,000 device amongst which BlackBerry alone occupy around 75% of them. The Department of Defence might not be able to move over to BlackBerry 10 do to the severe constraints in budget but there is a possibility that most of the current range of BlackBerry devices will be retained.
In an official statement Pickart said that “The Department is aware of recent reporting that asserts it is ‘dropping’ BlackBerry, This reporting is in error. The Department recently released its mobility strategy and supporting implementation plan, which clarifies we are moving towards a mobile management capability that supports a variety of devices, to include BlackBerry.”