Apple Inc. (AAPL) Devices Receive Pentagon Clearance

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products are now cleared and ready to be used by the U.S. Military. The Defense Department made a statement on Friday claiming they approved the use of select Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products running on iOS 6.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Devices Receive Pentagon Clearance

The recent decision will likely cause a larger battle between competition from BlackBerry and Android. Earlier this month, the Pentagon approved of BlackBerry devices such as BlackBerry 10 phones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as well as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) devices. For awhile, the Pentagon relied on BlackBerry devices which frequently received federal certifications to help protect sensitive data on the devices.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Device Status On Military Networks

Currently, the defense department has over 600,000 devices including 8,700 Android devices, 470,000 BlackBerry devices, and 41,000 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices. However, many of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Android devices are not connected to the military networks unless it’s for testing.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930)’s Vice President Tim Wagner explained that his company worked with the United States National Security Agency to make a more secure version of the Android operating system, complete with multiple layers of hardware and software protection.

The Galaxy Samsung S4 is the first smartphone to be used inside the new system. The military wants their employees to enjoy the flexibility of utilizing commercial products at work. They also want to launch military mobile applications and to hire a contractor that could build a large system that could handle up to 8 million gadgets.

Alana Johnson (representative for DISA) explained to CNET, “We’re changing the process. It used to be a device comes out, and we would then have to provide and rate the STIG. By the time it got approved, it was six months later and on to the next greatest thing. Now through some new processing in how we do it, we’re meeting with the vendors before starting the process. So by the time it meets the market, we’re right there with them.”

Given Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s popularity, it’s a pretty safe bet to say that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices will reign supreme. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices are known for being safer from viruses and malware, so it would make sense to utilize the better devices.

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