US Government departments abandon BlackBerry as RIM announces new strategy

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has received yet another blow, with news that two major US Government departments are abandoning its products. DailyTech is reporting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is joining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in abandoning the platform. The news comes after a major corporate customer, […]

Andrew Sadauskas 07 March, 2012

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has received yet another blow, with news that two major US Government departments are abandoning its products.

DailyTech is reporting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is joining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in abandoning the platform.

The news comes after a major corporate customer, oil giant Halliburton, recently announced that it would phase out the use of BlackBerry across its global workforce of 70,000 staff. It comes amid growing concerns about RIM’s core government and enterprise market abandoning its mobile device platforms in favour of Google Android and Apple iOS devices.

RIM responded by announcing in India a new strategy of developing industry sector specific apps and slashing the fees it charges carriers in order to try to reverse its decline in marketshare.