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NYPD Expected to Replace 35,000+ Windows Phones With iPhones Starting This Year
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San Francisco PD began its rollout with a custom-hardened Samsung Galaxy S3. I haven't heard any complaints from officers: the phones are basically secure dumb terminals that access SF's dispatch back end via browser. I haven't checked in lately, but I don't think it's a stretch to assume they've upgraded their hardware since that initial, and reportedly successful, rollout.
The devices you want for this kind of application aren't necessarily the ones you'd buy for personal use.
It's not uncommon for a single person to drive a purchase. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes not.
Hindsight is always 20-20, but at the point in time when she made the decision, nobody expected Windows Mobile to be abandoned by Microsoft.
NYPD are making another mistake if they're buying that lemon iPhone 6 that's not durable due to cheap bendable aluminum, touch disease defect and deficient DRAM. Avoid the iPhone 7, too, because of crappy Intel baseband radio and worse reception unfit for emergency service. Go with the iPhone 6S.
Makes you wonder if they're getting a kickback wasting tax payers' money on purpose with bad decisions.
Makes you wonder if they're getting a kickback wasting tax payers' money on purpose with bad decisions.
They would have the iPhone 6, which still supports the latest OS. Microsoft abandoned their hardware. Apple didn't. That's why they're in this situation.
they ALSO said that they picked windows because they would work with their PRE-existing software that they already used for security footage from their manhattan command center.
they also said the reason they are switching is because of the discontinued support by Microsoft on the window 8.1 mobile software.
1. I'm sure if other phones at the time worked with their software the choice might have been different.
2. if microsoft did not cut off their support, they wouldn't have any reason to even consider getting new phones.
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why would they do this?
what sense does that make?
35,000 new phones every year?
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which is sad, microsoft took the one big potential they had to really grab a choke hold on a huge market, and they floundered it horribly(almost as bad as they did with the mobile phone market).
There's even less risk with Android, because there's a wider choice in phones, features, and phone manufacturers. Plus they're usually available for less expense.
As someone mentioned, for field apps like this, the requirements are often quite different from general consumer use. They're usually more about ruggedness and cost, and support for a limited set of specific apps. Customization can be handy too. E.g. a custom launcher is possible.
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I do consulting for the city (but not NYPD). There are at least three reasons:
- Many city employee unions have contracts that explicitly forbid the city from using BYOD, the rational being that they could be leveraged to have the employees work after hours or off the clock (which is a reasonable assumption).
- Any city agency that handles sensitive data like arrest records, investigation records, etc. probably has an internal policy banning BYOD because there's no way they can ensure the security of the devices.
- The city has limited resources and (depending on the number of devices) it's cheaper to just buy everyone the same device instead of developing/testing/supporting an app (or apps) that work on different flavors of iOS and Android.
In my experience, enterprises will give great weight to the strategic recommendations made by Enterprise IT, which is populated, by these so call "computer science" experts.
Executives typically defer to their recommendations
As a consequence, Microsoft products, get selected regardless of demonstrable ease of end-use, ease of open-standards extensibility, and lack of proven long-term code stability.
That is what I have observed -- most likely than not.
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You should file a complaint.
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Logic doesn't go over well here.
Yeah, and it was going to be the year of mass switch to Linux for the last 20 years.
There's multiple contexts to "The cheap man pays twice"
For example in Android vs Apple, The iPhone is supported for 5 years where as the Average Android phone has a life of 18 months before the carrier drops it. This is not that different from Lenovo, Dell, Acer, etc never updating their laptops, it's just how these companies save money, and costs the customers more in support, and early obsolescence.
5 of my family members have Android devices, all because they were cheap, Two of them bought their phones because they lost or damaged a previous iOS device they've been using for years. Would I replace an iPad Pro with a Samsung tablet? No. I'm going to keep the iPhone until it's reasonable to replace it. Likewise I've considered replacing the 3rd generation iPad but what I use it for has so far been able to keep up, but Webkit based software and Unity-based software is sluggish, which means in the grand scheme of things, it would save more battery power in mobile devices to stop using jQuery frameworks and go back to engineering native C/C++/OBJC software.
[doublepost=1503965104][/doublepost](Just as an FYI I am a Windows Phone user, but I say this with an unbiased opinion as possible)
Less than a year after completing a rollout of Windows Phones to its entire police force, New York City Police Department officials plan to begin replacing them with iPhones by the end of the year, according to the New York Post.
Image: NYPD via YouTube
The report didn't specify whether the NYPD will opt to use one of Apple's latest iPhone models, or an older model like the iPhone 6. Apple is also widely rumored to announce the so-called iPhone 8 with an OLED display in September, although the high-end device may be out of the department's price range.
In October 2014, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials announced plans to roll out 35,000 handheld devices to every NYPD officer for the first time ever, along with tablets for every patrol car. De Blasio said the major $160 million initiative would help bring the department into the 21st century.
The NYPD's smartphones of choice were Nokia's Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL, released in October 2014 and March 2015 respectively. The since-discontinued devices run Windows Phone 8.1, which Microsoft ended support for in July to focus on its newer Windows 10 Mobile platform and cloud-based services.
The devices provide police officers with expanded search capabilities, including access to the majority of NYPD databases, and the ability to conduct various record checks from the field in a timelier manner. The devices also provide real-time 911 call data, often prior to radio dispatch, the department said in 2014.
The NYPD's choice of Windows Phones raised some eyebrows given iOS and Android combined have over 99 percent market share of smartphone operating systems, according to research firm IDC.
The department insisted on Microsoft-based smartphones in part because it was already using Microsoft software to run the video-surveillance program at its Lower Manhattan Security Initiative Command Center, according to the New York Post. The devices were also more affordable than iPhones.
A spokesman for the NYPD said the department wouldn't comment on the matter until its Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology Jessica Tisch returned from vacation later today, the report said.
Article Link: NYPD Expected to Replace 35,000+ Windows Phones With iPhones Starting This Year
Social media is to blame for their incompetence of understanding the whole process. Everyone is under the impression that they are stuck with outdated phones, which can never be upgraded/updated, which is simply not true. The phones which they had issued (Lumia 830, Lumia 640) both are upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile which is in mainstream support until June 2019. If the phones were to ever die, Microsoft would have been responsible for replacing with like units so they would have received Lumia 650s or a similar OEM such as HP Elite X3, Alactel Idol 4S, Acer Jade Primo.
Microsoft's upcoming "Project Andromeda" which is the successor to Windows 10 Mobile will be fully backword compatible with existing apps either through emulation or ported using native tools, so the only question becomes will the hardware support be there? I would imagine some OEM would be willing to step in to provide hardware support if requested upon by NYPD.
Not knocking iPhones any bit, I think they are lovely phones and I think they will suit the NYPD lovely, but social media is just flat out wrong when it comes to the support structure of Windows Phones.
The bulk of the cost for the NYPD is not in the hardware. It's in the system behind the hardware and to integrate the phones into their existing ecosystem. Now they have to do that all over again from Windows Phones <=> NYPD backend, to iOS <=> NYPD backend.
NYPD would be an even greater fool if hardware replacement over the years every single year is not already part of the budget. Increase headcount, lost phones, broken phones, etc. Replacing at least a certain percent of the phones every year is a no brainer.
You do also realize that it's not just the iDevices that need to be replaced now? All custom apps need to be re-written for iOS if they switch, while server side there will also be adjustments to be made. Apart from that, their complete IT department, help desk personnel, and each and every policemen needs to get used to a different phone and tablet. A lot of Macrumor-regulars probably wouldn't mind that, but the average policeman has other hobbies.
I was thinking maybe for important customers like this Apple would have maintenance and upgrade deals where they swap out the older units to recondition and resale for newer units for some small cost each year to assure everyone is always up to date.
Frankly, it doesn't seem worth the cost or the effort that that would require. All a police force will likely need is a secure and reliable communication and internet device. What's the point of swapping out thousands of devices every year to get a faster processor, and bells and whistles like facial recognition, wireless charging, slimmer bezels, or OLED displays? That would be like changing their fleet of squad cars each year just to have the nicest upholsteries.
You pay an inexpensive amateur to fix your roof, you'll have a professional back later to do it properly.
You buy a cheap-a$$ power drill, you'll be back buying a better one later.
You skimp on a new corporate application, you'll spend as much or more fixing it in a "phase 2" implementation, not to mention ongoing throughout its life - and probably again when you have to replace it ahead of its intended lifecycle.
Aka "you get what you pay for."
Seemed an obvious meaning to me. Not sure what the problem was.
So first - the 35mill deal wasn't just for the phones. Secndly, Windows phones were built by Nokia so were of a really good standard. Next, Windows phone (and Windows 10 mobile) is a very secure operating systems. All phones have TPM chips etc.,
For a user like the NYPD, they are going to want secure, well built phones that intergrate into their environment. They are probably going to lose / damage quite a lot of them so need a reasonable replacement cycle. Comparing Android with iOS with Windows Phone, it's fairly clear why Windows Phone won.
Some of the 'kids' on here have no idea how an enterprise works. All things considered, I think the Windows Phone was a good choice for NYPD at the time. Time moves on, and as Microsoft are exiting the phone space, NYPD are going to have difficulty getting new hardware so have to look around again.
I personally think supplying iPhones is a waste of taxpayer money but there is now little choice in the market with regards to security. Samsung's VP was recently jailed for bribery. No way could NYPD be associated with that.
Hopefully they get a good deal from Apple - for the taxpayers sake.
For a user like the NYPD, they are going to want secure, well built phones that intergrate into their environment. They are probably going to lose / damage quite a lot of them so need a reasonable replacement cycle. Comparing Android with iOS with Windows Phone, it's fairly clear why Windows Phone won.
Some of the 'kids' on here have no idea how an enterprise works. All things considered, I think the Windows Phone was a good choice for NYPD at the time. Time moves on, and as Microsoft are exiting the phone space, NYPD are going to have difficulty getting new hardware so have to look around again.
I personally think supplying iPhones is a waste of taxpayer money but there is now little choice in the market with regards to security. Samsung's VP was recently jailed for bribery. No way could NYPD be associated with that.
Hopefully they get a good deal from Apple - for the taxpayers sake.
Agree - it's interesting many corporates still view phones as mobile versions of their computers & should have a comparable life-span. Android's fragmented updates mean that data or networks you consume or connect to may mandate you are up to date and patched (certainly is here in the UK for local govt), yet that Android phone you've just purchased from your reseller may only have 6 months worth of updates left in it as it's been on the market a year already.
I have nothing against Android; I purchased a Nexus One direct from Google and it knocked the iPhone3G out of the park. I've currently got a lumia 950XL as a work phone (that I own), which I like. Right now, iPhones seem the sensible choice. In 3 years time, Android could have pushed ahead enough that it'll be them...
Agree... and the Windows Phone environment is a good environment absent the lack of a full App Store.
The lack of apps is a benefit with this use case. These phones are for police business use. Can you imagine what the media will do to NYPD when one of these shiny new iPhones is used inappropriately and someone dies? "Police officer playing Candy Crush during stakeout causes distraction that leads to the death of 2 NYPD officers"... unless they heavily modify and lock down iOS it's too much of a playground. And we know how well Apple plays along with people wanting to modify iOS. Without knowing all the details I think going with Android where they could better control everything and create a custom ROM might have been better.