Army smart-phone efforts face uphill battle
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Army's new chief of staff, appears to be a keen supporter of the service's plans to continue exploring wide distribution of smart phones, but such an initiative would face serious budget challenges.
The Army’s new chief of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, appears to be a keen supporter of the service’s plans to continue exploring how the it can use off-the-shelf gear, including smart phones, to give soldiers access to the global communications network, reports Philip Ewing at DOD Buzz.
If the Army decides to eventually equip every soldier with an iPhone, Android or equivalent handheld device, this would mean billions of dollars of new business for the telecom industry and might even bring new companies such as Verizon, Apple or HTC directly into the defense contracting business.
The challenge will be convincing Congress and the administration that this is feasible and a savvy investment in extremely tight budget times.