Confirmed: Obama gets his BlackBerry, no Sectera Edge in sight

At Robert Gibbs' first press conference as President Obama's Press Secretary, the most important and heated debate of our time has been put to rest. According to Gibbs, Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry, though only a limited number of senior staff and personal contacts will have access to his email address, and the data on the handheld will be subject to the Presidential Records Act. There was no mention of the NSA or the Sectera Edge, though he does mention some enhanced security. In Gibbs' words:

"The President has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends in a way that use will be limited and the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate, but to do so effectively and to do so in a way that's protected."

Finally, a clear indication that for the first time in the 21st century, the President of the United States will act like it's the 21st century. You can watch it all go down in the video after the break -- just crank it to about 45:30. Now, on to this economic stuff we keep hearing about...

[Thanks, Vipul]

[majortom1981 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:17PM]

All the other sites are showing the windows mobile device but say its a blackberry. I think even the whitehouse may be suffering from pooor brandname recognition. calling the windows mobile phone a blackberry. just how some people equate sode with coke.

[Iblackdude Posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:21AM]

He should get an iPhone.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 23rd 2009 8:17AM]

All Blackberry messages go through RIM's NOC in Canada. How would the NSA ever allow this? I doubt he is getting an acutal blackberry.

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13868

"Part of the problem is a centralized structure. All BlackBerry emails ultimately go through a single Network Operations Center (NOC) -- still located in RIM's hometown of Waterloo, Canada -- which tracks where devices are as they hop between wireless cells and even different carriers. While this helps make sure each email is "pushed" to the device quickly and efficiently, it means that when the NOC goes down, no BlackBerry devices get email. Most other mobile email systems are decentralized but rely on regularly "pinging" email servers, which burns up battery life. Given the inherent single-point-of-failure limitations in RIM's approach, Gold gave the company high marks for making sure it sees as little downtime as is feasible."

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 24th 2009 10:54AM]

"Finally, a clear indication that for the first time in the 21st century, the President of the United States will act like it's the 21st century."

Wait, I thought he was FDR. Or is it Lincoln?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 26th 2009 12:07AM]

I like "Barryberry"

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 12:05AM]

The obvious answer is to give him the General Dynamics thing for official government communications (anything that has to remain secret) and have him use the blackberry for personal communications (i.e. talking to his friends so he doesn't get trapped in the presidential bubble). The BB would then only be for stuff where it doesn't matter if its all over the internet.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 10:37AM]

Remember folks who the largest client of Research in Motion is... The federal Government. the NSA has a hardened blackberry server that they use, and can tie Obama's into. It's not that hard folks. Believe me.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 27th 2009 12:49PM]

White House E-Mail System Goes Down:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/26/white_house_e-mail_system_goes.html?wprss=44

21st Century!

[auricom Posted Jan 28th 2009 12:02AM]

I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this device..

(how's that for product endorsement?!)

[auricom Posted Jan 28th 2009 12:02AM]

I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this device..

(how's that for product endorsement?!)