Pentagon to use iPhones and Android devices starting next year, won’t abandon BlackBerrys yet

RIM is losing its grip on yet another major government contract, with Reuters reporting that the US Department of Defense is looking to provide its staff with iPhones and Android handsets from April of next year. A spokesman for the Pentagon has stressed that this doesn’t mean the complete abandonment of BlackBerry devices, saying that “large numbers” of RIM phones will continue to be supported. Moreover, this story has emerged as a result of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) posting up a request for security management software to handle those incoming new handsets, meaning RIM still has the opportunity to benefit if it wins the contract with its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion solution. Still, for a company already ailing financially and losing brand appeal among consumers, the erosion of a large-scale hardware contract like this will surely not be considered good news.