Washington – The changes that occur to a snail’s pace in Washington affected the popularity of political leaders. But in the case of BlackBerry, the tendency of the federal government to move slowly offers some hope. That’s because the government is the largest customer of BlackBerry and even with the rest of the world abandoning the smartphone business and by exchanging Samsung Galaxy and iPhones, BlackBerry, devoid of applications, remains the basic unit in Washington.
course in recent years the government has reduced its purchases of BlackBerry. But the abandonment of the device has been taking a much slower pace than occurred with the market.
agencies often enter into contracts to purchase long-term in the case of mobile devices – sometimes three or more years – and many departments have renewed their contracts with the BlackBerry this year. This means that federal agencies like the Department of State or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will be giving employees these devices for years, analysts say.
“The domain BlackBerry under the government peaked in 2011, but the unit still reigns among the smartphones used by the government,” said Geoff Celhar analyst Govini company that does research contracts signed by the government and published report yesterday on the agreement with BlackBerry. “This area of ??private business with the government is a great opportunity and an asset in the survival strategy or dissolution of a company.”
The State Department has increased its spending on BlackBerry devices this year. Already the DEA did not alter its budget. Even the Department of Defense, which opened over their purchasing policy apparatus to include Android smartphones and iPhones, BlackBerrys acquired 470,000 of a total of 600,000 phones.
Change. But the tide seems to be changing. The Army has reduced by two-thirds their purchases from BlackBerry devices since 2011. “The challenges faced by the State Department around the world require their employees to have 24 hour access to communications to which its operations are effective,” said spokesman Steve Aguzin. “For these communications are ensured, which is essential to U.S. missions abroad, the BlackBerry is currently the only approved cell that meets the constraints in terms of security of the Department.”
Overall the federal government spent more than $ 40 million to buy BlackBerry phones in 2013, a decrease of 57% compared with purchases made in 2011, according to a report by Govini.
In the consumer market more generally, Waterloo, based in Canada, was in the forefront, but quickly lost importance, with only 3% of the smartphone market in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC.
Last week, the company announced a loss of $ 1 billion in its last quarter, especially because of a writedown of its BlackBerry 10 devices, whose sales were depressing.
But the company also has $ 2.6 billion in cash and no debt. For analysts, its robust financial position will be of great help to your area of ??research and development of new products targeted for safety.
New investors
On Monday the BlackBerry accepted a takeover offer of $ 4.7 billion made by the private equity firm Fairfax Financial. The new investors plan to revamp the company’s focus and regain its image as a provider of software services and secure email.
“We believe this transaction will open a fascinating new chapter for the BlackBerry,” said Prem Watsa, CEO of Fairfax Financial, announcing the deal on Monday. “We can immediately provide more gains to shareholders, while we will continue to implement a long term strategy of a company focused on providing solutions and top-level security for BlackBerry customers worldwide.”
To some extent, the perception that the BlackBerry is safer than other devices helped the company win contracts in the federal government, analysts say. His first software platforms were closed to outside developers and the company has long advertises its service encrypted email.
Some analysts pointed out deficiencies in the marketing of the BlackBerry as the most secure phone, saying that hackers managed to breach their systems. But some federal agencies appear to be slow in adopting other phones to employees and are still testing the Apple iPhone and other devices that use the Android operating system from Google.
According to analysts, the agencies are loosening their policies in this area and BlackBerry failed to prove how will regain lost customers. The State Department and DEA already studying alternatives for the unit.
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