Back in the day, BlackBerry used to be the smartphone and platform of choice for enterprise and government use. This is due to its security features and the ability for IT managers to control the device remotely, allowing them to wipe the handset in the event that it is lost, as well as to manage some of its other features as well. However with BlackBerry declining and with BYOD programs starting to gain more prevalence, what is BlackBerry to do? Well the new CEO John Chen is hoping to turn things around, but in the meantime it looks like BlackBerry will have a staunch supporter at the Pentagon who reportedly will provide employees mostly with BlackBerry handsets.
According to the reports, the Pentagon is apparently looking to roll out 80,000 BlackBerry handsets to its employees starting on the 31st of January. However they also do plan on having some variety and will give out around 1,800 iOS and Android devices as well. The Pentagon also reportedly has plans to hit 100,000 users by the end of the fiscal year, meaning that there is still chance for BlackBerry to push its product to the Pentagon before then. Of course BlackBerry will need more than 100,000 units at the Pentagon to stay in business, but it is a pretty promising start to 2014 and who knows, perhaps other agencies and businesses might follow suit.
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