The US Defense Department Still Loves BlackBerry

Reports that the DoD is ditching BlackBerry for Apple and buying 650,000 iOS devices just aren't true, the DoD says.

If DoD employees want a BlackBerry 10 when the device becomes available, they can have one, spokesperson Lt. Col. Damien Pickart told PC Magazine's Damon Poeter.

If they want an iPhone or an Android phone, they can have those, too.

Pickart says the DoD currently supports more than 600,000 mobile devices between those in the field and the ones in various pilot programs. The breakdown is: 470,000 BlackBerry devices, 41,000 iOS devices, and 8,700 Android devices, Poeter reports.

Rumors that the DoD was dumping BlackBerry and would not allow employees to use the BlackBerry 10 came from a story posted by Electronista earlier this month.

Yesterday, Electronista also reported that the DoD was gearing up to purchase 120,000 iPads,100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod touches, and 210,000 iPhones, mostly to replace older BlackBerry devices.

Electronista's articles weren't totally off base. The DoD did publicly confirm that it plans to offer its employee more choices than ever, including Apple tablets.