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Apr 12, 2001
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united_pilots_ipad.jpg



The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $9.36 million contract to purchase as many as 18,000 iPad 2s, according to Bloomberg. The plan is to replace bulky and heavy flight bags full of navigational charts and other materials with iPads in order to reduce the weight of pilots' bags and save fuel on flights.

The Air Mobility Command, which is purchasing the iPads, provides transport and refueling services using C-5, C-17, and C-130 cargo planes, and KC-10 and KC-135 tankers.

A number of airlines have begun testing iPads to replace heavy flight bags, including United, Delta, American, and the Marine Corps.

The iPads will streamline pilots' work by eliminating the need for thumbing through sheafs of paper or waiting for pages to print. The iPads will reduce clutter on cramped flight decks and offer quick and easy access to required data at all times.

Article Link: US Air Force Agrees to Purchase $9 Million Worth of iPads
 

stridemat

Moderator
Staff member
Apr 2, 2008
11,364
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Well that's one way for Apple to clear out all their iPad 2 stock ahead of next week's release.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's a win for Apple on both parts. Clearing out inventory and obtaining $9 million worth of revenue.
 

ataranlen

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2010
9
0
Why don't they just start using better technology in their plane instrument panels. I'm sure most that stuff is heavy :rolleyes:
 

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
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That's a lot of iPad's! Now the Pentagon is going to write new policies for locking them down and restricting their use so that they're almost useless.
 

marcusj0015

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2011
1,024
1
U.S.A.
They should wait a week and buy the iPad 3.

they have to test all this **** for months bro.

----------

That's a lot of iPad's! Now the Pentagon is going to write new policies for locking them down and restricting their use so that they're almost useless.

They have to lock them down so they're secure bro. they'll use private networks and all kinds of ****, and it may be annoying but it's VERY important.
 

Jowl

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Apr 13, 2006
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I can't wait for new aircraft to come with ipad dock connectors. :)
 

JonneyGee

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Jun 8, 2011
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Shows that the military doesn't subscribe to MacRumors. I'd be mad if I spent $600 on a device that was made obsolete a week later, not to mention several million!
 

FrizzleFryBen

macrumors 6502
Dec 14, 2009
453
179
Charlotte, NC
They should wait a week and buy the iPad 3.

I agree. Retina displays would make a big difference when viewing flight data.

That's a lot of iPad's! Now the Pentagon is going to write new policies for locking them down and restricting their use so that they're almost useless.

Isn't that kinda the point? They aren't so pilots can play angry birds...Don't worry, they will make them very useful for the jobs they are intended.
 

SandboxGeneral

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Sep 8, 2010
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They have to lock them down so they're secure bro. they'll use private networks and all kinds of ****, and it may be annoying but it's VERY important.

Isn't that kinda the point? They aren't so pilots can play angry birds...Don't worry, they will make them very useful for the jobs they are intended.

I'm former military myself so I know what it's all about. I was being sarcastic in my remark.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Two important quotes from the article:

The type of iPad the command is buying retails for $599, Ferrero said. The Air Force would buy it at a discount for about $520 a device, she said. The product comes with wireless connectivity and 32 gigabytes of memory, she said.

The contract allows the Air Force to buy as many as 18,000 of the devices within a year of the award date, which was yesterday, Ferrero said.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll purchase all 18,000,” she said. “It’s contingent upon funding requests and approval.”

The Air Force has already bought 63 iPad 2s from Executive Technology, Ferrero said. The devices will be delivered within 30 days and undergo testing, she said.

Btw, the USAF group that awarded the contract was the transport guys:

Air Mobility Command, based at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, provides transport and refueling services to the U.S. military using C-5, C-17 and C-130 cargo planes and KC-10 and KC-135 tankers.
 

BC2009

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2009
2,236
1,372
Well that's one way for Apple to clear out all their iPad 2 stock ahead of next week's release.

Yup, though the purchases won't happen right away, and I'm betting Apple continues selling the iPad 2.

That's $520 per iPad… Looks like negotiation isn't one of the Air Force's strong points!

They are not buying the 16GB WiFi model, though I'd bet the price point of the iPad 2 is going to drop. It's possible the deal will allow them to purchase iPad 3 as well since the actual purchases are still pending.
 

pjapk

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2012
1
0
D'ya think they'll ensure they switch 'em off during take-off & landing like the rest of us? :)
 

colindias

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2012
1
0
Drop in the bucket...

This paves the way for future Government purchases... which is great, but to put this in perspective, in the grand scheme of things this amounts to about $0.009/share revenue for AAPL shareholders, or at 44% profit, about $0.004/share, so dont go getting too excited about it...
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,520
Two important quotes from the article:


Like people here read the linked articles before replying.


This paves the way for future Government purchases... which is great, but to put this in perspective, in the grand scheme of things this amounts to about $0.009/share revenue for AAPL shareholders, or at 44% profit, about $0.004/share, so dont go getting too excited about it...


The publicity Apple receives because of stories like these is worth millions.
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
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Shows that the military doesn't subscribe to MacRumors. I'd be mad if I spent $600 on a device that was made obsolete a week later, not to mention several million!

The military spending millions of dollars on obsolete technology? Shocking! :eek:
 

SandboxGeneral

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Sep 8, 2010
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notjustjay said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Shows that the military doesn't subscribe to MacRumors. I'd be mad if I spent $600 on a device that was made obsolete a week later, not to mention several million!

The military spending millions of dollars on obsolete technology? Shocking! :eek:

Well to be fair, the military and governments in general do not make snap decisions to buy anything.

The Air Force and Pentagon probably have had this on the burner for months in committee and study before they decided to purchase. Plus Apple likely provided them a quote, for the current available product, quite some time ago. All long before the iPad 3 rumors started. Plus they can't plan to buy a product that hasn't been announced yet.
 
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