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četvrtak, 16.02.2012.

BlackBerry faces new challenge from U.S. agency

BlackBerry faces new challenge from U.S. agency

By Alastair Sharp.

(Reuters) - In another blow for beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, the U.S. federal government's main procurement agency is issuing iPhones and Android-based devices to some of its 17,000 workers.

While the General Services Administration does not impose its purchasing decisions on other parts of the government, the terms and conditions it negotiates can be used as a blueprint for other agencies.

"We actively seek to be progressive in our adoption of new technologies so that we can learn the lessons which will inform our client and customer agencies as they seek to go down a similar path," the GSA's chief information officer, Casey Coleman, told Reuters in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Once Washington's only option for secure mobile communication, RIM has struggled to offset a rising tide of companies allowing their workers to use their own devices for work or supplying them with rival devices, which have made strides towards matching the BlackBerry's famed security.

The GSA - which manages $500 billion of government assets including telecom, information technology and real estate - is also testing the use of employees' personal smartphones and tablets on their secure networks, a popular move for corporations looking to cut costs.

Coleman said that BlackBerry remains by far the most used smartphone at GSA, with devices from Apple and those using Google's Android software accounting for less than 5 percent of the agency's fleet, which covers the majority of GSA employees.

The personal smartphone pilot is to supplement rather than replace government-issued devices, she said, and the GSA has no plans to abandon RIM servers, which manage secure BlackBerry traffic.

RIM charges a fee for use of its servers and data centers, which compress and encrypt email and other sensitive data.

The GSA's move is just the latest hurdle to face Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM.

Another U.S. agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said last week it would ditch the servers that run its BlackBerrys by June as it trimmed costs.

Oilfield services company Halliburton plans to switch 4,500 BlackBerry-toting employees to iPhones, saying it's is better suited to its needs. Several banks have also welcomed BlackBerry rivals.

The NOAA move was made possible after it switched its desktop-based software to Google Apps for Government.

Coleman said the GSA moved to Google Apps in June, cutting its costs in half compared with its legacy desktop software.

The GSA plans to offer a service so other agencies can quickly order Web-based email, she said.

"This is an area that is changing and evolving rapidly and as the market changes we will continue to seek to provide our employees with the best devices for them to do their best work."

BlackBerry Dealt Blow as U.S. Procurement Agency Issues IPhones to Staff

By Hugo Miller.

The General Services Administration, the U.S. government's main procurement agency, has begun issuing iPhones alongside BlackBerrys, delivering another knock to Research In Motion Ltd.'s once dominant position in Washington.

The GSA, with 12,635 employees, supplies more than US$70-billion worth of products and services to other federal agencies a year. GSA staff may now request Apple Inc. phones and devices running Google Inc.'s Android software if they have applications that can help them work more efficiently with customers like the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, said Deborah Ruiz, a GSA spokeswoman. She didn't say when the change took effect.

The move highlights the challenge facing Thorsten Heins, RIM's new chief executive officer, who has vowed to rethink the way the company markets and sells BlackBerrys to reverse slumping demand. Sales in the U.S. fell 45% last quarter as consumers and businesses opted for iPhones or Android devices for their better Web browsers and wider array of apps.

The U.S. decline is dragging down RIM's global market share even as sales in emerging markets like India and Indonesia climb. RIM's share of the worldwide smartphone market slid to 8.2% in the fourth quarter from 14% a year earlier, while Apple's share rose to 24% from 16% in the same period, according to research firm IDC.

Jamie Ernst, a spokeswoman for RIM, didn't have any immediate comment.

Approved Devices

The sales drop has led to a 90% plunge in Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM's share price from its 2008 high. RIM fell 0.7% to US$14.80 at 11:41 a.m. New York time. Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple gained 0.4% to US$504.81.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last week it would support BlackBerrys until May and then begin replacing them with iPhones. Apple's devices can be integrated into its current infrastructure more cheaply than paying for a dedicated BlackBerry server, said Joe Klimavicz, chief information officer of the the weather, ocean and fisheries research agency with 13,000 workers.

Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oilfield- services provider, said last week it will phase out 4,500 BlackBerrys and switch to the iPhone because the Apple device does a better job of supporting internal company applications like software to monitor well construction.

The GSA, which also manages office buildings for more than a million federal employees across the U.S., picks suppliers and negotiates prices for more than 12 million products and services ranging from consulting contracts to office supplies and laboratory equipment.

The Washington-based agency will continue to issue BlackBerrys alongside other devices and allow employees to choose their own device from an approved list, Ruiz said. The agency has no plans to support employees' own devices, a policy adopted by some companies seeking to reduce costs.

Ruiz didn't say how many smartphones the GSA issues to employees or what the breakdown is by type of device.

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