Ford ditches BlackBerry phones for the iPhone

By Mike Flacy July 29, 2014

Shifting a large enterprise contract from BlackBerry to Apple, the Ford Motor Company announced plans to replace more than 3,000 employee BlackBerry phones with the iPhone before the end of 2014.

Totaling out to 3,300 smartphones in all, Ford will be hiring a “mobile technology analyst” to manage the shift from the BlackBerry platform to devices that utilize iOS. According to representatives at Ford, the company will not be paying any additional cost to upgrade to the iPhone beyond the cost of the hardware. The company believes that the new platform will offer a simpler interface for employees to understand as well as heightened security.

‘We’re going to get everyone on iPhones.’

Speaking about the shift from BlackBerry to Apple, Ford global communications manager Sara Tatchio told Bloomberg “We are going to get everyone on iPhones. 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.”

Alternatively, BlackBerry communications VP Adam Emery released a statement to Bloomberg which read “While we can’t comment on this customer, we understand that there is diversity and choice in the market. 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.”

Of course, this isn’t the first, large enterprise customer that BlackBerry has lost over the last few years. During early 2013, Home Depot announced a shift from BlackBerry to iPhone for approximately 10,000 employees. A few months prior to that, the U.S. Immigration and Customs agency announced a similar change for more than 17,000 employees.

On the consumer side, T-Mobile ran a promotion during early 2014 that encouraged customers to switch from a BlackBerry to the iPhone. This marketing campaign didn’t sit well with BlackBerry management which ended the company’s relationship with T-Mobile.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Mobile

Best iPhone 14 deals: Unlocked and refurbished

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro's camera module

Some of the best Apple deals and best iPhone deals come from the iPhone 14 lineup. While it has been around a couple of years now, the iPhone 14 is still only one generation old as iPhone releases go. This means it still has a lot to offer, including much of what can be found in the newer iPhone 15, but it will often see some impressive price drops. Many of the best iPhone 14 deals we’re seeing right now are on refurbished models, but both new and refurbished models are out there, and each makes for some of the best phone deals going on at the moment. You’ll find all of the information you need to save on an iPhone 14 below, but if you’d like to land yourself the latest and greatest you should also check out the current iPhone 15 deals, Samsung Galaxy S24 deals, and Google Pixel 8 deals.
Apple iPhone 14 -- from $491, was $699

With the Apple iPhone 14 you’re getting what is still one of the most popular smartphones on the market. This is the iPhone 14 model that’s meant for everyone. It holds back a few features you can only get on the Pro model, but it still has an impressive 6.1-inch display, an impressive camera, and dozens of ways to personalize your iOS experience with widgets and fonts. The phone can reach up to 26 hours of battery life on a single charge, and it’s powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic chip. Face ID, emergency SOS via satellite, and super fast 5G cellular connectivity round out the top features of the Apple iPhone 14.
Buy Refurbished at Amazon — from $491

Mobile

iOS 18 may give Siri the upgrade we’ve been waiting for

Hey Siri

Apple isn’t immune from the AI craze sweeping the rest of the industry. Following the likes of Google with Gemini Nano, Apple is set to roll out AI upgrades to the iPhone with iOS 18. Code-named “Project Graymatter,” the iOS 18 update will bring a variety of AI-powered enhancements to the iPhone and Siri in particular.

According to AppleInsider, the features are being tested in advance of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and one of the biggest is called “Graymatter Catch Up.” The feature is tied to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, which will now allow users to request and receive an AI overview of the most recent notifications.

Mobile

Become an iPhone video master with this powerful new app

Screenshots from the Kino app.

Avid iPhone photographers will already know the excellent Halide camera app and how it can help transform the stills you take. But they will also know it does not support video, a point the company itself has been well aware of too. That’s why it has launched Kino, a video app for the iPhone that aims to bring similar Halide-style benefits to video instead of stills.

Kino is described as a video app for beginners and experts alike, but to get the most from it, you’ll likely need to be familiar with the iPhone’s video recording modes. For example, one of the main features that makes Kino stand out is Instant Grade, which uses the Log video recording mode, which was introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.