The New York Police Department's Deputy Commissioner of IT has defended the department's purchase of $160 million worth of obsolete Windows phones after a New York Post article criticized the "boondoggle". The NYPD plans to switch to iPhones:
On Monday, Jessica Tisch, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of information technology, wrote a scathing defense of the NYPD's choice of Windows phone.
The two-year project wrapped up in October and cost $160 million. It put Windows phones into the hands of all 36,000 officers.
The NY Post's Tina Moore originally reported on the change with the headline: NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones. In the article Moore points out:
"Just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said."
This clearly didn't sit well with Tisch. She penned a retort that extolled the virtues of the Windows smartphone program, while also confirming that the NYPD has given up on Windows in favor of iPhones.
The smartphones purchased were the Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL.
Blog post defending the use of Windows phones. Also at New York Magazine, The Register, and Mac Rumors.
Older article about the "crime-fighting phone".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Sourcery42 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:08PM (2 children)
I don't disagree with anything you said about Apple. However, it does sound like the tipping point for migrating was MS no longer supporting Windows phone 8 or upgrading these devices to Windows phone 10. I suppose keeping LEOs' devices up do date on security patches and whatnot is important. Apple does have a good track record of updating its old phones for 5 years or so. With Android on the other hand, you're lucky if you get 2 years and 2 major version updates. That's flagship level support; budget devices might not even get that consideration. I could see that aspect of the mobile ecosystem influencing this decision.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @09:36PM
With Android on the other hand, you're lucky if you get [updates for] 2 years and 2 major version updates
Sounds like you get your phones via a carrier.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday August 30 2017, @09:39PM
When you're buying 160 million dollars worth of phones in one go, you can make arrangements for better long term support. That's especially true when the OS is open. At that volume, in house support becomes a viable economic option.
While iPhone makes a lot more sense than Windows phones, one might think the police would want a more rugged phone.