It is official; the US Department of Defense (DoD) has given its approval for the latest Samsung Galaxy S4, making it the company’s very first device to acquire US governmental certification. This ratification also covers Samsung’s Knox security system which facilitates the device to be used as part of a new policy for US government staff, as reported by Korea’s Yonhap News.
This approval is in consonance with a DoD declaration dated from February that will commence its communications networks to Smartphone and tablets from both Apple and Google by February 2014.
Samsung’s endorsement comes merely a day after BlackBerry announced that DoD had approved its latest line of BlackBerry 10 devices as well as its existing line of PlayBook tablets for use. This news served as a thrust for the struggling Canadian device manufacturer, however, it will have to cope with sharing its position in the government with Samsung and Apple; a DoD spokesperson stated the latter’s iPhone and iPad devices ought to receive approval this month.
It was reported earlier that the White House is keen to switch from its armada of BlackBerry Smartphones for a more pliable alternative that allows its employees to choose from Samsung’s Galaxy range, or Apple’s iPhone and iPad products. The fact that Samsung is now certified for use with the Department of Defence is a clear demonstration that the growth of the Korean company and the BYOD (bring your own device) trend has alerted the BlackBerry-Only mentality in the US government.
Samsung is increasing its focus on business and enterprise users – having launched a new global marketing campaign just this week, and it would undoubtedly serve as a major symbolic win if the company were able to make a blister in BlackBerry’s position with the US.
The much anticipated Galaxy S4 was unveiled at a media event in New York back in March. The device was available to customers in 60 countries late last month.
The device is a sequel to the Galaxy S3, which surpassed 40 million channel sales in January of this year. The milestone was in the nick of time; putting Samsung’s Galaxy S series past 100 million channel sales. Yet, this time around, the company is having even bigger hope from the flagship phone, and with the break into the US government, it seems it is on the right track.