Ford Motor Company will be ditching BlackBerry smartphones in favor of iPhone for its corporate employees worldwide, reports Bloomberg.
Ford plans on deploying Apple's iPhone to about 3,300 worked by the end of this year, with plans for an additional 6,000 employees to receive iPhones over the next two years. Ford is also hiring a mobile technology analyst/consultant who will oversee the 'global deployment' of iPhones across the company.
“We are going to get everyone on iPhones,” Sara Tatchio, a Ford spokeswoman said. “It meets the overall needs of the employees because it is able to serve both our business needs in a secure way and the needs we have in our personal lives with a single device.”
The switch serves as a blow to BlackBerry, which is predicted to have less than 1 percent of the smartphone market this year.
“While we can’t comment on this customer, we understand that there is diversity and choice in the market,” Adam Emery, a BlackBerry spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. “Enterprises should think twice about relying on any solution built on the foundation of a consumer technology that lacks the proven security benefits that BlackBerry has always delivered.”
Just recently, Apple announced a partnership with IBM to bring enterprise services to iOS, although Ford is making 'no extra investment' to convert to iPhones, other than purchasing the devices.
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Ford plans on deploying Apple's iPhone to about 3,300 worked by the end of this year, with plans for an additional 6,000 employees to receive iPhones over the next two years. Ford is also hiring a mobile technology analyst/consultant who will oversee the 'global deployment' of iPhones across the company.
“We are going to get everyone on iPhones,” Sara Tatchio, a Ford spokeswoman said. “It meets the overall needs of the employees because it is able to serve both our business needs in a secure way and the needs we have in our personal lives with a single device.”
The switch serves as a blow to BlackBerry, which is predicted to have less than 1 percent of the smartphone market this year.
“While we can’t comment on this customer, we understand that there is diversity and choice in the market,” Adam Emery, a BlackBerry spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. “Enterprises should think twice about relying on any solution built on the foundation of a consumer technology that lacks the proven security benefits that BlackBerry has always delivered.”
Just recently, Apple announced a partnership with IBM to bring enterprise services to iOS, although Ford is making 'no extra investment' to convert to iPhones, other than purchasing the devices.
Read More