Apple Signs $159 Million Gov't Contract for iPhone, iPad
Nearly 10,000 officers will receive iOS devices.
Apple has signed a $159 million contract with the New Zealand Police that have opted for the iPhone maker's products over BlackBerry, Google and Microsoft.
The New Zealand Police said the deal covers 6,000 police officers receiving an iPhone, and 3,900 of those officers will also be given an iPad. The forces will initially spend $4.3 million to fund the initiative over the next three months. It expects to spend as much as $159 million in operating expenditures during the next 10 years.
It chose Apple products over BlackBerry, Google and Microsoft after surveying its officers, who said iPhones and iPads were the most useful technology tools for their line of work.
"The trial showed the most useful tools for officers were small personal devices (such as a smartphone) for making phone calls or text messaging, accessing email, and accessing information and photo databases, and a larger such as a laptop or tablet for staff who need to do more data entry," said New Zealand Police Chief Information Officer Stephen Crombie.
"Based on frontline officer feedback from the trial (over 100 staff in four districts trialed smartphones, laptops and tablets over an 11-month period), the preferred devices are the iPhone as smartphone and iPad for the tablet. The approach used to develop the applications means Police can move to other devices with relative ease as technology changes."
New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key added, "Using mobile technology means officers will be able to check offenders’ details (like photographs and bail conditions) where and when they need to, rather than having to drive to a station to access information or use the police radio. This means more time to focus on stopping crime and protecting communities, and less time each day on administration duties at their desks."
Apple will also be supplying 10,000 iPhone units to Home Depot, the fifth largest retailer in the world, who recently announced plans to ditch BlackBerry devices.
I mean, lets ignore the premise of a 'financial crisis', the prospect of close to 1.5 billion people starving of which 15 million children die annually (regardless of the notion that we've been producing enough to feed 10 billion each year for over 30 years now), or that 50% of the global population lives on less than $2 per day.
Lets also ignore the premise that we can easily provide a 3x higher living standard to each person on the planet compared to what the richest people currently enjoy if we simply used our latest science and technology and unleashed it into the social system (and used it intelligently - full blown automation, elimination of planned obsolescence, production of abundance using less raw resources and energy by creating self-sufficient systems and superior synthetic materials which can be made in abundance).
The article is typical stupidity at its finest.
Ignore the actual problems that are occurring in the world and just focus on idiocy to keep things as they are.
When will people learn that governments are not problem solvers?
Real change never came from government or people in positions of power.
OT: Don't see the need for officers to even have smartphones, they just need something that lasts (smartphones? lol) which can make calls. They gonna be called in for a emergency and still take the extra time to Apple map the location? they already take long enough to get to places as is.
Someone, somewhere, got a VERY large financial incentive to go Apple.
Since when are NZ flatfoots qualified to decide what is technically best for the job, surely that should be decided by the IT department, a lot of the votes will be from users that want a shiney iPhone and for no other reason
I lol'd.
Yes.
Just yet another, usual, boring, slow day. :\
Also: Mixing "Micro" and "Goliath" in one word is an absolute /0.
If they chose Google or Microsoft, they would have two vendors to deal with, one the OEM (Samsung, LG, Nokia, whoever), and one for the OS (Google or Microsoft). In case of Google, they'd have a vendor whose business model is basically selling advertising, while Microsoft is a niche player in mobile at the moment with a big question mark over the future of its products.
Seeing how the cost of the actual devices is only a fraction of the entire contract, the fact that Apple's devices are sold at a premium, isn't a big issue for them.
http://www.intomobile.com/2013/02/15/new-zealand-police-buying-10000-ios-devices/
I cant find anything on what other tablets were used.
Oh, and Australias Treasure department is ditching their Blackberrys for iPhones.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/06/australias-treasury-department-switches-from-blackberry-to-iphone
In later news the Gov have reopened the 3 bil $ lawsuit vs Samsung due to better brib err evidence!
$159 million over 10 years is $15.9 million per year. $1590 TCO per device per annum?!?
Whoever their purchasing manager is, I'd like to discuss business! :-D
Does it bother you that much that Apple is taking over the enterprise and major companies who have actually spent time testing both pick iOS?
Of course. I just made an example on how Government "officials" (including "Mister President") usually think/act.
It's same for almost all westerner countries. We maybe "commies" (LOL!), but at least we don't do such stupid things as these, because we have brains and fine with using them.