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Big win for Apple in New Zealand as local police decided to get iOS-based rather than Android and BlackBerry devices. The decision to take the iRoute was made after 100 New Zealand cops tested out the Apple iPhone against an Android handset and a BlackBerry model for 11 months.
As a result, the country’s Prime Minister John Key and Police Minister Anne Tolley announced that 10,000 iOS devices will be ordered by the New Zealand police. The plan will see 6,000 frontline officers getting the iPhone with 3,900 of them also receiving the iPad.
Overall, New Zealand tax payers will have to put in $4.3 million NZ (about $3.75 million USD) over a three month period, the figure that will grow up to $159 million NZ ($134.7 million USD) over ten years. At the same time, the productivity gains are expected to reach $305 million NZ ($258.5 million USD).
According to New Zealand Police’s CIO Stephen Crombie, the trial showed the most useful tools for officers were small personal devices for making phone calls or text messaging, accessing email, and accessing information and photo databases, and a larger such as a laptop or tablet for staff who need to do more data entry. He went on to add: “Based on frontline officer feedback from the trial the preferred devices are the iPhone as smartphone and iPad for the tablet. The approach used to develop the applications means Police can move to other devices with relative ease as technology changes.”
[Via: PhoneArena]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
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