U.S. ATF dumps beleaguered RIM’s BlackBerrys in favor of Apple iPhones

“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is planning to start the process of ditching Research in Motion’s signature BlackBerry wireless phone largely in favor of the iPhone, the agency’s top tech official told Politico,” David Saleh Rauf reports for Politico. “‘We’re going to delete the BlackBerry from the mix,’ Rick Holgate, ATF’s chief information officer, said in an interview.”

“That move — which includes swapping out about 3,800 BlackBerrys — should be complete in ‘probably no more than a year,’ he said,” Rauf reports. “More than 60 percent of the replacement devices are initially slated to be iPhones.”

Rauf reports, “It marks the second major federal agency to recently announce plans to divorce the BlackBerry in favor of a romance with Apple’s smartphone. NOAA, according to media reports, is planning to start the process of exchanging some 3,000 BlackBerrys with iPhones and replacing RIM servers by June. The transition at ATF is going to take shape even sooner. March has been set as the target month to start replacing some 2,400 BlackBerrys assigned to special agents in the field with iPhones.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: At the ATF, Amateur Hour is over.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Rainy Day,” and “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]

20 Comments

  1. Screw the ATF. If it was up to me that whole band of thugs would be shut down. I’d shove them all up Holder’s ass and then shove him up Oboma’s. There’s no way they didn’t know about Fast and Furious.

    1. I would like to point out that the next step after shoving lots of stuff up Obama’s ass it to raid, tie up, tar and feather, draw and quarter, behead then stick the heads on pikes of the dickheads who run The Corporate Oligarchy, the fellows who literally OWN (aka pwn) the US federal government, both parties included.

      Please do keep that fact in mind.

    1. You have no idea what the Government had to go through in terms of procurement in order to make the move to the iPhone. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) were enacted to promote fair and open competition and obtain efficient pricing for goods and services purchased using taxpayer money. All of those checks and balances to minimize waste and corruption have a cost in terms of speed and efficiency.

      If only *you* actually had to deal with those regulations (which are for your benefit), you would stop badmouthing those who serve faithfully.

      P.S. Up yours.

      1. if you mean ATF serve faithfully I hope it the rank and file and the leaders. Just look at the Fast and Furious fiasco. Not to mention operation black biscuit. ATF leaders need to be fired and serve some
        Jail time.

  2. considering the Fast and Furious scandal, your take is NOT quite correct.

    For ATF, amateur hour in the phone department may be over, but they are still playing around in all the other things and blindly following idiotic politics that kill people.

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