Published in Mobiles

Obama claims his BlackBerry is staying

by on20 January 2009

Image

Must work around security concerns


Newly-elected President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office this morning as the 44th President of the United States.  Obama is the most technology savvy President yet to hold office, which should bode well for the technology industry in general.  During his campaign Obama became extremely attached to his BlackBerry Smartphone and claims that he does not want to be without it.

In an recent interview with John King of CNN television, Obama indicated that he planned to keep his beloved BlackBerry when he said, "I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an e-mail could end up being on CNN. So I make sure to think before I press 'send'," he said.

Of course, the President’s BlackBerry would have to be carefully monitored by security staff and internal staff, as there is a requirement to keep a record of every White House communication.  But Obama likes to think outside the box and receive input from others outside his immediate staff.  He said, "It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me…I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America."

Obama accidentally dropped his BlackBerry last week and it fell and smashed onto the pavement outside his limo as he got out.  A Secret Service agent rushed to pick up the pieces as well as the battery.  Obviously, the security concerns that might arise if the U.S. President lost his BlackBerry are huge. But Obama has so far shown that he has his own way of doing things, and if it means that RIM eventually customizes a BlackBerry for the new President we would not be at all surprised.

Last modified on 20 January 2009
Rate this item
(0 votes)