Air Force Special Operations Cancels Order of iPad 2s

[ap3x]

[citation][nom]RandomKneeArrowGuy[/nom]^^ Dude, app was created by a russian man, programmer - developer like hundreds of thousands other in the appstore of Apple's, not Russia (gov. / military / whatever)...I do however agree with the "trillion dollar budget" comment.[/citation]

Sorry, to clarify. a foreign based developer or company. Happens all the time. I am not saying I agree with it, it just is something that they do. I am sure in some cases it is justifiable and in some cases it is not but then again I can say the same thing about TSA pat downs. lol

 

[freggo]

[citation]on a side note, can someone tell me what these manuals that need to be replaced every 28 days are?[/citation]

Aviation charts and Airport Information.
They reflect changes in frequencies, approach/departure procedures, new buildings/obstructions etc.
Not just for the military. Every airline or private aircraft has to use these updates.

 

[warezme]

Nook and Kindle support PDF, you could buy 2 or 3 of each for the cost of 1 stinking ipad2. All military docs should be on PDF format already anyways.

 

[mcd023]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]-on a side note, can someone tell me what these manuals that need to be replaced every 28 days are?[/citation]

Flight chards, airport data. In the US, these are updated every 28/56 days depending on the chart and they typically cost about $6-8 or per, depending on the item and they only cover certain regions.

 

[dthx]

Of course an iPad works above 15,000 feet and is probably solid enough for the kind of tasks they needed it for ;-) The iPad doesn't even know it is used above 15,000 feets as it is operated inside a pressurized vessel that keeps where the air density remains approximately the same as between 5,000 and 8000 feets.
What made them change their mind is probably that that the iPad was like a blackbox to the Government's IT departments. They need to have good control of a system to be able to securely manage it and the iPad is not exactly designed for that purpose.
Compared to a few months ago, there are also lots of more possibilities than the iPad (hardware and software wise). The competition has come a long way and is now on par with Apple regarding design, battery life, ... and often priced more sharply. They also do provide more customization option (if they load their own rom whith a open source kernel and if they can strip-out anything they consider useless or dangerous from the rom).

Oh wait... maybe they were able to put their hands on the very very last batch of HP Touchpads ;-)

 

[arvalin_dakaria]

[citation][nom]builder4[/nom]They have a trillion dollar budget and can't develop their own viewing app?[/citation]

Its actually more like 110 Billion

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]multi trillionbut that implies there is code in the program that sends the info elsewhere, and that they cant obtain the source code at all review it, and decide if its ok to use... i mean this isnt rocket science. --------------------on a side note, can someone tell me what these manuals that need to be replaced every 28 days are?[/citation]

yeah, we all know if you just read the code you'll find all the security vulnerabilities...

 

[john15v16]

DoD hasn't even approved the usage of the iPad/iOS yet (only blackberry and android). It appears that someone in Washington has exercised common sense...

 

[whitelyric]

Glad it's cancelled. The Air Force was only going to buy them because it became common practice for pilots in Afghanistan to buy iPads so they didn't have to be bothered reading a paper chart. If the paper charts work I think that's good enough for our pilots, we shouldn't be shelling out tax paper money to crApple just for a convenience.

Personally, I'd like to see the DoD develop more of their own hardware. The push to use COTS equipment is destroying a large sector of public service jobs.

 

[Guest]

A "militarized" Ipad costs 25,000 dollars and runs windows. Replacing a broken Ipad really isn't that expensive compared to that. (Also, the pilots are already using Ipads in the cockpit lol)

 

[__-_-_-__]

now they can buy an android version for a 10th of the price that works even better.

 

[digiex]

They just realize that they are buying an overpriced piece of $h!#.

 

[upgrade_1977]

What I heard was the military created a security app for them to use, and then the apple store denied it.. Now apple is releasing a new security app for apple 3 saying it's there idea.. And Ipad 2 users are going to have to upgrade to ipad 3 to get it. :I

 

[ap3x]

[citation][nom]john15v16[/nom]DoD hasn't even approved the usage of the iPad/iOS yet (only blackberry and android). It appears that someone in Washington has exercised common sense...[/citation]

to be more specific.

It was a Dell Streak and Android version 2.2 they approved. Not all Android versions and devices. This I think makes allot of sense because they could technically develop or contract develop their own hardend version of Android specifically for their purposes. I think this is probably a better overall solution for them. They can write the code to lock it down as much as they want.

 

[noblerabbit]

[citation][nom]builder4[/nom]They have a trillion dollar budget and can't develop their own viewing app?[/citation]

What is surprising to me, is they even have enough to buy Apple products, with that measly trillion dollar budget.

 

[rantoc]

Likely found out they would pay premium for crap!

 

[ap3x]

[citation][nom]noblerabbit[/nom]What is surprising to me, is they even have enough to buy Apple products, with that measly trillion dollar budget.[/citation]

At those volumes and buying direct from Apple the Fed team would likely give them 60-80% off the list price. I doubt that Apple would have the Fed go through a authorized re-seller or distribution. Probably a direct deal.

 

[doive1231]

But this is like why planes have two pilots. If you have two iPads in the cockpit, if one breaks, just use the other.

 

[nebun]

about time someone started to use their heads

 

[eddieroolz]

The cold war is still going on, it seems.

Oh, and time for RIM to make their pitch.

 

[uruquiora]

if i was a country government, i wouldnt like to have APPLE own my arse... considering how transparent APPLE is and how little is known of how the device transmits user details (and you can assume it's hidden and happening all the time), i can totally understand how this is a security concern...