This article has been updated to include BlackBerry’s comments on the matter, as well as a response from the DOD.
In yet another blow to BlackBerry’s core customer base, the Department of Defense (DOD) may be readying an order of 600,000 iOS devices.
According to a report from Electronista, the DOD has finished extensive testing of BlackBerry’s new devices and has decided to go with Apple for its mobile needs. The DOD has an order pending for 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod touches, and the remaining 210,000 filled by various iPhones, according to the report.
Blackberry refuted the report, saying in a statement that its work with the DOD is going well.
“We are currently working with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and anticipate Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) and Security Requirement Guide (SRG) approval for the BlackBerry Device Service, BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry PlayBook by early April,” said a BlackBerry spokesman. “BlackBerry was the first to go through the new SRG process by the Defense Department and will be the first to successfully come out of it.”
Meanwhile, a DOD spokesman said it is not dumping BlackBerry and is moving forward with a number of devices and platform. The spokesman however did not confirm or deny the order for iOS devices.
The news comes after DOD last month announced its Commercial Mobile Device
Implementation Plan geared toward securely opening up its networks to devices from multiple platforms.
According to the DoD, its standard of Blackberry use still holds for the most part, with Blackberries accounting for 470,000 of the 600,000 mobile devices the Department currently has deployed. However none of those are running BlackBerry’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system.
At the time, the DOD told Wireless Week that those numbers could shift as the Department moves towards a multi-vendor solution for mobile device management and in developing a department-wide app store.
Earlier this month, BlackBerry said it had landed an order for one million of its new smartphones, making it the largest single order in the company’s history
