Phone flavours and pricing problems
In what could be a lucrative handset contract for phone manufactures, the director of ARCIC-Forward, Rickey Smith told the magazine the army is mulling a variety of handsets.
"We're not wedded to a specific piece of hardware. We are open to using Palm Trios, the Android, iPhone or whatever else is out there," he reportedly said.
It is thought that the army will tweak and ‘ruggedize' existing handsets instead of make its own, which should keep the cost relatively low.
Tony Fiuza of the army's communications-electronics research, development and engineering centre, reportedly reckons soldiers could get a monthly allowance or ‘maintenance fee' to spend on apps and minutes, allowing them to personalise their phones to suit their professional needs.
"If you did it that way, the advantage would be to pay for the phone once and then you pay a maintenance fee to the soldier ... and then the soldier can buy whatever iPhone, Android or hardware that he or she likes. Then the challenge is just figuring out how we pay for the minutes each month," he told the magazine.
While testing will obviously determine when phones will or might be rolled out, Vane reportedly reckons smartphones could come to the battlefield as soon as next year.
The army thinks soldiers with smartphones are more likely to collect and share information about enemy combatants and this is believed to be the direction that the army is heading in. Vane is said to believe the real challenge will be to work out how to share data and keep information secure.
"Army officials remain concerned of enemy forces hacking into the phones, but don't want that fear to paralyze the use of these phones," he reportedly added.
