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New Zealand police to buy 10,000 iOS devices, beating out Android and BlackBerry

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By Alan Friedman

Published: Feb 14, 2013, 2:27 AM

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New Zealand police to buy 10,000 iOS devices, beating out Android and BlackBerry

New Zealand Police Commissioner Peter Marshall checks out an Apple iPad during the trial

100 New Zealand cops tested out the Apple iPhone against an Android handset and a BlackBerry model for 11 months. Now that the testing process is all over, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Police Minister Anne Tolley announced on Wednesday that 10,000 iOS devices will be ordered by the New Zealand police. 6,000 frontline officers will receive an Apple iPhone while 3,900 of them will also receive an Apple iPad. The move comes as the police shift carriers from Telecom to Vodafone.

The purchase will cost $4.3 million NZ ($3.75 million USD) over a three month period. Over ten years, the program will cost $159 million NZ ($134.7 million USD), but will be worth it as productivity is expected to benefit by $305 million NZ ($258.5 million USD) over the ten years.

The news comes a few days after Australia's Treasury Department decided to replace the current BlackBerry models used with iOS devices. That move comes despite problems with Apple Maps that made Australian police and firefighters publicly renounce the app as being life-threatening and dangerous.

"The trial showed the most useful tools for officers were small personal devices for making phone calls or text messaging, accessing email, and accessing information and photo databases, and a larger such as a laptop or tablet for staff who need to do more data entry. Based on frontline officer feedback from the trial the preferred devices are the iPhone as smartphone and iPad for the tablet. The approach used to develop the applications means Police can move to other devices with relative ease as technology changes."-Stephen Crombie, Chief Information Officer, New Zealand Police

source: NationalBusinessReview via AppleInsider

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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