[AT_Nepal]

Just read a story about Pentagon switching away from RIM:

"Procurement documents released Monday by the Pentagon for mobile device management software included BlackBerry management only as a nice-to-have. The change is also happening at government contractors. Booz Allen Hamilton will move 25,000 employees from BlackBerrys to iPhones and Android devices, the company said last week.

BlackBerry remained a stalwart in government circles in recent years even as its grip on the business and consumer smartphone market began to loosen. However, the Federal Air Marshall Service, the Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are switching, or have already done so, from BlackBerry to other mobile platforms. Other agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration, are widening their use of BlackBerry alternatives.

Full Story here: BlackBerry Loses Its Grip On Federal Government - Government - Mobile

Also BloombergTV:

Pentagon May Drop RIM, Ceglia Arrested for Fraud: Video - Bloomberg

This is bad news for RIM

[bigboybkrises]

Very interesting. I'm expecting my taxes to raise WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! up.

[CharlesH]

Add ICE to the list of federal agencies dropping RIM (and specifically in favor of the iPhone ). See http://forums.crackberry.com/news-ru...iphone-750542/

[tinoman]

It's all fun and games until some of these byo android devices get hacked and important govt documents get thrown up on wikileaks.

[bigboybkrises]

Emailing on IOS sucks. Thats all I'm saying for now.

[trsbbs]

If you snooze you loose. RIM snoozed and is now seeing and feeling the affects.
Yes, other platforms are less secure but they are available now and are a known item.
BB10 is not out yet thus no one is going to bet their budgets on it,,,,,,yet.
OS7 is on the way out and/or at best poorly supported.

These drops from Blackberry will continue for sometime until BB10 has proven itself and costs can
be fully anticipated.

Tim

[dynot]

If you snooze you loose. RIM snoozed and is now seeing and feeling the affects.

Totally agree. Even with all the mistakes RIM has made over the years, I still think this last delay is their worst strategic mistake and, as the saying goes, the chickens are coming home to roost. There's a last glimmer of hope if they release BB10 in January or even February. But there's also a good chance that it'll be too late as more and more users, both corporate and consumers, switch because there is no good alternative with Blackberry.

Think about it: all those new purchases this holiday season will be locked in for two or three years and it'll be with that i-thingy, android, or wp8. Can RIM tough it out untill those contracts are up?

[berklon]

Waiting for the standard "Pentagon? Are they still in business? Nothing to see here" posts.

Seems like there's no end in sight to this mass exodus.

Sadly, BB10's release won't do much to stop the decline. RIM just took/is taking too damn long.

[kdeckels]

If nothing else, I can't believe battery life's not an issue.

[Tre Lawrence]

Waiting for the standard "Pentagon? Are they still in business? Nothing to see here" posts.

Seems like there's no end in sight to this mass exodus.

Sadly, BB10's release won't do much to stop the decline. RIM just took/is taking too damn long.

Be patient. Someone will soon make the standard rant about government employees playing Angry Birds. Someone had already made the requisite hacking prediction, so it shouldn't be long now.

[dynot]

Another point I want to add. If you think its bad now with all these agencies and companies jumping ship or exploring alternatives to BB, imagine what it'll be like if wp8 and Win 8 are even a modest success. The idea of having the same OS and ecosystem across all your devices would surely tempt corporations, governments, and consumers to at least consider it a viable option.

Will the i- and a- fanboys switch? Probably not. So who stands to lose the most? Yeah that's right...that company that is currently selling a tablet that can't do basic file management decently or even sync its contacts with the very phone it bridges to.

[jagrlover]

[recompile]

Yeah that's right...that company that is currently selling a tablet that can't do basic file management decently

Decently? The iPad can't do file management at all...

You couldn't mean the PlayBook with the weak simplified stock file manager? Not surprisingly, There's an App For That.
(You can even manage files on an SD card when bridged.)

[richardat]

Just read a story about Pentagon switching away from RIM:

"Procurement documents released Monday by the Pentagon for mobile device management software included BlackBerry management only as a nice-to-have. The change is also happening at government contractors. Booz Allen Hamilton will move 25,000 employees from BlackBerrys to iPhones and Android devices, the company said last week.

BlackBerry remained a stalwart in government circles in recent years even as its grip on the business and consumer smartphone market began to loosen. However, the Federal Air Marshall Service, the Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are switching, or have already done so, from BlackBerry to other mobile platforms. Other agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration, are widening their use of BlackBerry alternatives.

Full Story here: BlackBerry Loses Its Grip On Federal Government - Government - Mobile

Also BloombergTV:

Pentagon May Drop RIM, Ceglia Arrested for Fraud: Video - Bloomberg

This is bad news for RIM

Yeah, saw that a couple days ago...decided not to post it lest get accused of "negativity".

[ynomrah]

It's all fun and games until some of these byo android devices get hacked and important govt documents get thrown up on wikileaks.

Expect the fact it likely won't happen. A locked down android isn't any more vulnerable than a locked BlackBerry. There's little to no different in corporate compliance between platforms. It really just comes down to employee liability.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

[dynot]

Decently? The iPad can't do file management at all...

You couldn't mean the PlayBook with the weak simplified stock file manager? Not surprisingly, There's an App For That.
(You can even manage files on an SD card when bridged.)

And so it begins...

[jly.public]

Time to sell RIMM?

[BB10BelieveIt]

J. Nicholas Hoover, Senior Editor, InformationWeek is another apple fanboy making up stories. It is important to read the sources to these articles before believing what you read. Here is the link for his article which basically regurgitates the loss of the ICE contract which is old news and says only this about the pentagon:

BlackBerry Loses Its Grip On Federal Government - Government

The Department of Defense might not be far behind. Procurement documents released Monday by the Pentagon for mobile device management software included BlackBerry management only as a nice-to-have.

Here is the link he referenced: link

His above statement referring to the Pentagon is VERY vague. I have read the documents he is referencing and cannot find out what he is talking about. But everything I read sounds like RIM has the perfect MDM solution. Here are some quotes from the documents.

"Blackberry is outlined as a requirement in the DRFP. Can DISA expand on what is acceptable/desired to support this requirement?
Can current BES servers be managed by the provided solution – or does the proposed solution need to fully replace and migrate
DISA’s existing BES architecture?"

"Since hardware devices that run on Android and Blackberry RIM software have unique control mechanisms through MDM,
contractors will need specific model numbers and names of the devices to be managed. We recommend that this information be provided in the final RFP."

"Procuring as-a-service MDM-MAS would be a better approach than a licensing model. MAS is still an immature technology that is
changing rapidly. This is partly because new devices and device platforms are being created every couple of months (iPhone 5,
Windows 8 phone and tablet, BlackBerry 10), while other devices and platforms are or have become obsolete (BlackBerry 9, HP
WebOS, phones running older versions of Android OS). The contractor can keep up with the technology changes and update the
products as needed. The government would not have to invest in all of the costs of the initial deployment of the service."

Here is my comment to Nicholas over at informationweek. Feel free to let him know how you think if you are sick of this crappy journalism.

zaman59


Hey Nicholas Hoover,

The ICE contract is old news. Your vague statement concerning the Pentagon is unsupported in the links that you provided. While I did not find anything in it to support your weak, headline grabbing argument, I did find quite a bit of information supporting continued blackberry use like this gem from the last attachment. Attachment_9_-_Draft_RFP_Q&A_Responses.pdf

"Blackberry is outlined as a requirement in the DRFP. Can DISA expand on what is acceptable/desired to support this requirement? Can current BES servers be managed by the provided solution – or does the proposed solution need to fully replace and migrate
DISA’s existing BES architecture?"

I can't believe you call yourself a senior editor, pathetic.

[Tre Lawrence]

Expect the fact it likely won't happen. A locked down android isn't any more vulnerable than a locked BlackBerry. There's little to no different in corporate compliance between platforms. It really just comes down to employee liability.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Leave it alone, Y. Just nod and smile.

[BB10BelieveIt]

The reason that he said that "Procurement documents released Monday by the Pentagon for mobile device management software included BlackBerry management only as a nice-to-have" is because that essentially no MDM vendor (other than RIM) can manage BB devices properly (MS exchange management doesn't cut it for the DoD, way too basic). So, the DoD doesn't even bother to ask 3rd party MDM solutions to try to manage blackberry devices because they know they need a BES server for that as referenced below at Attachment_9_-_Draft_RFP_Q&A_Responses.pdf

"The ability for MDM solutions to support new mobile operating systems is dependent on the device manufacturers releasing appropriate information for COTS vendors to incorporate management of these devices in their solution. These factors are outside of the contractors and COTS Vendor's control. As an example Microsoft chose not to release any MDM APIs in their Windows 7.5 mobile operating system. No MDM vendor can provide support for this OS as it cannot be managed. RIM does not release APIs allowing management of the BlackBerry devices. These devices can only be managed via the RIM BES Server. No MDM provider can manage these devices within their MDM solution, RIM simply does not allow this to happen.

Again, what crappy journalism.

[kdeckels]

I heard the Pentagon is basically off grid anyway. I wouldn't think it would be a BYOD type of atmosphere.

[Superfly_FR]

So far I know, there's an agreement needed for (secured) devices in govt agencies.
So far I know none of the above devices have this agreement.
I believe these devices will be for "usual users" with no sensitive data.
I believe BB devices will still be required for sensitive users.
I believe, while some of the devices might change brand/OS, they still need a back-end secured and BYOD ready solution.
I believe BES10 is that particular solution and may even tend to make alternatives to BB devices "more secure"; even while some (I) could describe it as an ugly "secure enough" (means not secure).

... so, let's see what will append in real world, not only in declarations (that are bad news, anyhow).

stay.calm

[cgk]

I believe BES10 is that particular solution and may even tend to make alternatives to BB devices "more secure"; even while some (I) could describe it as an ugly "secure enough" (means not secure).

But you still run up against the same problem that BB10 itself has - time and arguments to the future - Govt procurement is largely conservative (in terms of risk) and RIM is going to be at a disadvantage until it is proven that BB10 has a high level of take-up and by extension that RIM itself will there have a sustainable future - until that happens, you are still going to see moves away from RIM.

[kill_9]

Sadly RIM faces a potential to hemorrhage enterprise-class clients as some of its largest clients decide to move away from BlackBerry devices during the next 6-12 months. One of their biggest blunders has been the reliance on Microsoft Windows Server for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server; even the next generation enterprise server is tied to Microsoft Windows. There is no excuse for not building "BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10" on either QNX or RedHat Enterprise Linux, for example, especially if the transition to ActiveSync rather than the tradition BES-way was enterprise activation of email accounts is true.

[cgk]

especially if the transition to ActiveSync rather than the tradition BES-way was enterprise activation of email accounts is true.

I can't be bothered to go google it, but I thought that was already confirmed? (maybe somewhere here?).