US government dumps BlackBerry in favor of iPhone, iPad for NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dumping RIM’s BlackBerry from its list of officially supported mobile devices, according to a memo sent from the organizations CIO.

According to the memo sent by Joseph F. Klimavicz, NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications, support for the BlackBerry will continue until May 12, 2012.

The U.S. government will instead supply workers with new iPhones and iPads. Klimavicz says the organization will now support the iPhone 4 and above with iOS 5 and above. The iPad 2 and above with iOS 5 and above will also be supported.

The memo, dated February 3, 2012, didn’t say when the government would furnish workers with the new Apple products.