BlackBerry's most important stronghold is being threatened it seems, as word has got out that the White House could be testing smartphones from Samsung and LG for internal use. According to The Wall Street Journal, the White House's internal technology team and the White House Communications Agency, a military unit in charge of President Barack Obama's communications, are testing various devices and looking at the possibility of phasing out BlackBerry devices, a move that might just have the President rocking a (heavily modified and locked down) Samsung phone in the future.
Testing is reportedly in its early stages, so Obama will be using his BlackBerry for a considerable while. But chances are he will switch to Android before his presidential term comes to an end in 2017. If a Samsung device does make the cut, it would be quite the achievement for the Korean manufacturer, especially as it has already been working hard to get the US government to adopt its KNOX security solution, which competes directly with BlackBerry's enterprise solution that has been in use in the White House for more than 10 years now.
BlackBerry, of course, was not very welcoming of the news. “For more than a decade, BlackBerry has been securing the U.S. government's mobile communications and only BlackBerry is designed to meet the high-security needs of U.S. and allied government agencies,” a BlackBerry spokeswoman said. However, things change, even in the White House, and securing a place for one of its smartphones in Obama's pocket could give Samsung a major boost that further cements its position in the mobile industry.
