1. Emaderton3's Avatar
    01-18-22 08:21 PM
  2. idssteve's Avatar
    Nice read. Thanks.
    01-19-22 04:06 AM
  3. spARTacus's Avatar
    It kind of reads like a "those were the days" story. I felt like it perhaps got a bit long as it went on, and lost a bit of its luster. Good stuff regardless.
    01-19-22 07:12 AM
  4. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    No doubt that BlackBerry was once a big part of Government and Enterprise... even know I expect Governments are their biggest customers.
    01-19-22 07:15 AM
  5. Ph1llip's Avatar
    What a great article and thanks for linking it here. What an era. Some BlackBerry's were assigned NSN's and were available to order for those 'senior' enough.
    01-19-22 10:34 AM
  6. GordH's Avatar
    Reporter's Notebook
    The end of an era: BlackBerry’s impact on feds, industry endures
    Jason Miller@jmillerWFED
    January 17, 2022 4:37 pm
    13 min read


    President Barack Obama wouldn’t give his up. President George W. Bush wasn’t allowed to have one, even though he wanted one.

    For about 15 years, the BlackBerry phone was Velcroed to every federal and industry executives’ hand from the Oval Office on down....

    Roger Baker is a former Commerce Department chief information officer. He offered a memory from January 2001:

    “We needed to quickly support the mobility needs of the new secretary and his team, so about two days after inauguration we had our BlackBerry vendor in to get us information. They were able to get us 12 BlackBerrys set up and delivered about two days later. Each was labeled with an individual’s name (for the secretary, chief of staff, CIO, etc.) except one with no label. When I asked about it they said ‘it’s for your boss’s boss.’ The secretary was headed to the White House that afternoon so I took him his and asked him if he wanted to offer the unlabeled unit to his boss. He said sure, and took it with him.

    “The next day the unlabeled unit was handed back to me with the explanation that the president wanted to keep the unit, but the Secret Service wouldn’t allow it.”.....
    And you can't have it Mr. President, because we haven't figured out how to crack it yet... But after we install some "software" on it for you, sure you can have it back then...

    So there you go folks, not even the POTUS is allowed to have a private device, so no wonder us peons aren't.

    Problem is, what the "alphabet gang" can read, you can be sure foreign powers can also read...oh well, the important thing is we keep a grip on our own people!
    01-20-22 01:32 PM
  7. Tsepz_GP's Avatar
    This is a really nice read, thanks a lot.
    The journey to mass smartphone adoption has been an interesting to say the least when reading this.

    Anytime I see mentions of old BBs it takes me back to the 1st one my Dad had when I was becoming a teen, always wondering why he was so busy on that thing.
    01-20-22 04:51 PM
  8. bakron1's Avatar
    Nice read, thanks for sharing.
    01-20-22 04:59 PM
  9. rthonpm's Avatar
    And you can't have it Mr. President, because we haven't figured out how to crack it yet... But after we install some "software" on it for you, sure you can have it back then...

    So there you go folks, not even the POTUS is allowed to have a private device, so no wonder us peons aren't.

    Problem is, what the "alphabet gang" can read, you can be sure foreign powers can also read...oh well, the important thing is we keep a grip on our own people!
    As opposed to the fact that you have a high value target with a location device with a built-in microphone. Security for a head of state isn't going to like having any kind of variable.

    This would also not be considered a private device as it is government provided so any transmission and messaging to and from it would be considered as government records. Very different use case than a private individual.
    01-22-22 09:38 AM
  10. spARTacus's Avatar
    As opposed to the fact that you have a high value target with a location device with a built-in microphone. Security for a head of state isn't going to like having any kind of variable.

    This would also not be considered a private device as it is government provided so any transmission and messaging to and from it would be considered as government records. Very different use case than a private individual.
    I think that's a Z10 Merkel was holding. I don't remember now when it was from or what the rest of the story might have been about surrounding the picture, but I do remember a few pictures like that from back then.BB's impact on government-merkelsz10.jpg
    01-22-22 10:02 AM
  11. goku_vegeta's Avatar
    No doubt that BlackBerry was once a big part of Government and Enterprise... even know I expect Governments are their biggest customers.
    Probably more so on MDM solutions rather than the devices themselves. The federal government of BlackBerry's home transitioned away from them a while ago. Definitely a trip back down memory lane.
    01-22-22 10:02 AM
  12. idssteve's Avatar
    And you can't have it Mr. President, because we haven't figured out how to crack it yet... But after we install some "software" on it for you, sure you can have it back then...

    So there you go folks, not even the POTUS is allowed to have a private device, so no wonder us peons aren't.

    Problem is, what the "alphabet gang" can read, you can be sure foreign powers can also read...oh well, the important thing is we keep a grip on our own people!
    Always wondered if POTUS BO's nickname of "Barry" mightve played some small role in his preference?

    Running tiny operations of my own, without a Bold, seems a foreboding contemplation. I simply would not attempt half the workload using ANYthing newer I've tried. Can easily see how POTUS might benefit with a good Bold. Imo. Of course keeping Putin & Xi out of it is a whole nuther deal... lol.
    01-22-22 10:20 AM
  13. howarmat's Avatar
    I think that's a Z10 Merkel was holding. I don't remember now when it was from or what the rest of the story might have been about surrounding the picture, but I do remember a few pictures like that from back then.Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Merkel'sZ10.jpg 
Views:	50 
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    It was the kick off with Securesmart tech on the device I think. It again was not an off the shelf device.
    01-22-22 12:41 PM
  14. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    It was the kick off with Securesmart tech on the device I think. It again was not an off the shelf device.

    Securesmart is one area I think BlackBerry is doing well.... at least in the EU.
    01-24-22 08:33 AM
  15. eshropshire's Avatar
    It was the kick off with Securesmart tech on the device I think. It again was not an off the shelf device.
    Correct, the phones each cost around $3-5K. The German government moved to the devices for high officials after the Obama Administration was caught spying on them.
    01-24-22 02:49 PM
  16. Emaderton3's Avatar
    Glad everyone enjoyed it. You can thank Google for suggesting it to me based on my searches lol.
    01-24-22 05:05 PM
  17. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Glad everyone enjoyed it. You can thank Google for suggesting it to me based on my searches lol.
    Yeah that use to confuse a lot of folks on the BBRY thread... they'd say BlackBerry is always in the news. But you clear all the tracking stuff and the picture changes.
    01-25-22 01:37 PM

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