Samsung close to sealing deal with FBI, Navy on device supply
Samsung is reportedly close to serving up its latest Galaxy S4 smartphone to U.S. government agencies, months after it was cleared for federal use.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, the Korean electronics giant is close to sealing the deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a smaller contract with the U.S. Navy.
The deal will represent Samsung's first two U.S. government clients. The company has also worked with American Airlines, and other major private companies, the Journal reports.
BlackBerry was, for some time, the only government player in the smartphone pond. But now that Apple's iOS and Samsung's Knox platforms are government approved, BlackBerry is sinking to the bottom.
Numerous government departments have already ditched the BlackBerry in favor of the Apple branded smartphone, following Apple's successful bid to acquire FIPS 140-2 approval, designed for low-level secure communications.
But Samsung is hot on the tales of the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant, after it in turn won the approval of the Dept. of Defense in May.
While Samsung has the Android-based consumer smartphone segment of the market covered, the company is also going after the enterprise space. Apple also found itself landed in the middle of the business and corporate world when bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends began to rocket at the start of this decade.
Apple bolstered iOS from the inside out, while Samsung developed its Knox security offering, adding a layer of security to the Google-developed mobile platform.