Halliburton To Dump Blackberry For iOS 188
grub writes "Halliburton has decided to drop Research In Motion's Blackberry platform in favor of Apple's iOS for its workforce. 'An internal newsletter outlined the plan for the nearly 70,000 employees who work for Halliburton in more than 70 countries. "Over the next year, we will begin expanding the use of our mobile technology by transitioning from the BlackBerry (RIM) platform that we currently use to smartphone technology via the iPhone."'"
Physical keyboard? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Physical keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not saying that the iPhone isn't a good phone, but it has no physical keyboard. Many employees use their phone for answering email; to me the iPhone seems like it would really inconvenient for use in this manner. Does anybody else use an iPhone as their primary work device?
Brevity of reply = feature not bug
Feds won't like it (Score:5, Insightful)
iOS does not have a FIPS 140-2 certified encryption module associated with it, meaning that viewing non-public government data on their e-mail system would be a contract violation at worst and might expose them to criminal liability. Aren't these guys basically government contractors?
Re:Physical keyboard? (Score:4, Insightful)
I use it all the time, and don't really have issues writing emails on it.. With any compact device it takes practice. I personally have a harder time on those mini physical keyboards than on the virtual iPhone keyboard.
Perfect example of not keeping up... (Score:3, Insightful)
The latest Blackberry ads proudly claim "we want a tool, not a toy". Um yeah, no.
If your tool actually did anything that the Android and iOS toys don't do, you might have a point. But since the toys do everything your tool does, but even better, your company is on the brink of extinction.
Re:Seems fitting (Score:5, Insightful)
Blackberry had some really large problems in the past few years. Network outages, lack of interests in developing 3rd party apps. Most likely a lot of employees wanted iOS devices more then ones who liked their blackberry. So they made an IT decision to switch... No big deal.
If Apple messes up or something that is far superior pops up then you will see the market switch again.
This isn't some Evil attracted to Evil, liberal hippy crap. To big companies often thing that are ethically wrong... Yes. Are all their decisions based on Evil... No.
Sometimes an IT Decision is just that.
Re:Seems fitting (Score:3, Insightful)
A company like Halliburton, is a big company. Most of you the only reason to hate it was because of its connection with a former Vice President who was a War Hawk Republican. Like all Large companies they do a lot of things. And the IT decision to move from Blackberry to iOS, probably isn't part of some evil plot. Just probably more innocently trying to give customers a better tool for their job.
Blackberry had some really large problems in the past few years. Network outages, lack of interests in developing 3rd party apps. Most likely a lot of employees wanted iOS devices more then ones who liked their blackberry. So they made an IT decision to switch... No big deal.
If Apple messes up or something that is far superior pops up then you will see the market switch again.
This isn't some Evil attracted to Evil, liberal hippy crap. To big companies often thing that are ethically wrong... Yes. Are all their decisions based on Evil... No.
Sometimes an IT Decision is just that.
No, I am pretty sure it was because they were shameless war profiteers who won no-bid contracts and earned billions in profits while ONLY BY COINCIDENCE were they hugely invested in and advised by several officials in the white house... And then they blew up an oil well in the gulf that shit all over the coastline of 5 states. All liberal hippy crap, no doubt.
Re:Seems fitting (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, that's why we should hate them. It couldn't also be it's support and coverup of a gang rape committed by employees, or it's opposition to anti-human trafficing among other things.
Re:Seems fitting (Score:5, Insightful)
As a fairly liberal hippy type person, I have to say he's still pretty much right. You can't just say "Halliburton has done evil things, therefore all things done by Halliburton are evil". I disagree with a lot of things about the company, and I take anything they say with a grain of salt, but I seriously doubt they have "Chief Evil Officer" who's job it is to double check all corporate actions and make sure they meet the necessary standard of evil. Most likely enough people complained about Blackberry that IT decided to switch platforms. It's news because it shows that RIM is seriously hemorrhaging big customers. If they can't hold onto the Halliburtons, they're in even worse shape than a lot of people thought. I believe it was just a week or so ago that I was responding to a post about how "regulate" industries were never going to move to IPhone just because some dirty users wanted to... Well, yeah...
Re:Seems fitting (Score:5, Insightful)
Moreover, why is Halliburton moving away from Blackberry to iOS supposed to raise any eyebrows? RIM is in a death spiral. This article could have been written about thousands of other companies.
(Yes, I know that this is /. so there's necessarily evil afoot when android isn't chosen, but... )
Re:Physical keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
Touchscreens are much harder to type on whilst driving a car
Conveniently, this usability issue is addressed by Darwin.