French President receiving a new encrypted phone after a BlackBerry ban

We know Barak Obama had to give up his precious BlackBerry when he started his term as President – fortunately he was later given a special handset from RIM. We can’t say the same for French President Nicolas Sarkozy along with 20,000 of his French government lieutenants who will be equipped with a specially-commissioned encrypted smartphone. This new order has been executed after SGDN, the French equivalent of MI5, banned ministries and civil servants from using BlackBerries in 2007 – citing “a problem of data security.” President Sarkozy took a visit to France-headquartered defense Thales so he would be presented with an “impenetrable” smartphone called the Teorem. Sure it’s classified as a smartphone, but this flip handset may not compare to the well crafted devices RIM currently offers. We’re confident in saying that it will most likely get the job done when it comes to security. There’s little information in the way of specs, but it supports UMTS, EDGE, GPRS, and GSM – Sarkozy goes on further to say that the device was “beautiful.” Not only will the President be sporting the Teorem, but his ministries, civilian, and military officials will each be issued a handset. Let’s hope that they don’t miss their BlackBerries too much now.

source: The Register