Last week we blogged about how Deutsche Bank is rolling out a new program to allow employees to shift away from the Blackberry devices and use Android and Apple devices for business use. It marks a huge blow for RIM, the Canadian company that manufacturers the Blackberry, as the business market is really one of the few segments where Blackberry phones still have a strong presence.
The other is government use. Apparently, when it rains it pours, as the US government recently decided that it is going to start phasing Blackberries out and phase in Apple phones and Android smartphones.
There won’t be wholesale changes as of right now, but members of Congress, the ATF, the Department of Veteran Affairs, the State Department and several other smaller agencies will be allowed to choose the device they want to use. Should an employee choose to ditch their Blackberry, they will need to equip their Apple or Android smartphone with the proper security software to make them government compliant.
This marks a massive shift in thinking from the government that previously had mandated the use of Blackberries for work use. Many government employees, including Federal CTO Vivek Kundra, admit to carrying a Blackberry for work, and using a more preferred device for personal use.
Blackberry appears to be sinking faster than the Titanic, and there isn’t a lifeboat anywhere on the horizon. It wasn’t that long ago that Palm was the dominant name in the business world with their line of PDA devices. Palm, recently bought by HP, now holds less than a 5% share of the smartphone market.
Blackberry appears to be headed in that direction, and could get there sooner rather than later if something isn’t done really soon.
