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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @04:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the tsk-tsk-Tisch dept.

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".


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by choose another one on Thursday August 31 2017, @01:33PM

    by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 31 2017, @01:33PM (#562109)

    > 2014 was 3 years ago, when the decision that Android and Apple were apparently (in the eyes of the NYPD) defective was made.

    If the decision was made then, the procurement process began months (at least) before. If Apple and Android's offerings were "coming soon" at the time, whilst Windows' were available now, then that may have made the decision. Apple and Android (or vendors/suppliers) may even have qualified out (because of this) in the early stages of procurement.

    What is awfully common in IT is that technology changes a lot faster than public sector procurement and rollout processes, leading to frequently going live with a system that is already obsolete or even unsupported. NYPD aren't alone in that, heck I know of at least one corporate with 100s of users still on Windows Phone - for the same reasons (MDM and security). They don't even know what to move to - Win Phone is dead, but Apple and Android don't do what they want.

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