When President Obama entered the White House in 2009, he refused to give up his smartphone. The phone was a BlackBerry device, and it was something that he wasn't about to live without. Today, a youth group that Obama was speaking to asked the President why he didn't have an iPhone.
His response? Obama can't have an iPhone for “security reasons.”
This comment has made a lot of people wonder two very important things. First, if Obama can't have an iPhone because it's not secure enough, is your iPhone safe? Second, would the healthcare .gov site not have crashed if the President knew more about technology by using an iPhone?
Let's look.
Is Your iPhone Safe?
That's a tough question to answer, but I'm going to try to answer the question anyway. It comes down to what you do and who owns your phone.
If you have a company phone, your boss can look at what you do – it's really that simple. If you own your own phone, chances are that you aren't on the NSA's ‘Most Wanted' list. If you are on that list, make sure that your phone is secure, and that everything you send is encrypted – that's a joke, but encryption is vital all the same.
Obama can't have an iPhone because if any of his information leaked, that would be a big problem. But, wait, isn't that what his security team is for? Well, yes, but they couldn't figure out how to keep the iPhone safe, it seems. Or, maybe Obama just wants to keep his BlackBerry because he likes it – that might be the point of this whole thing too.
The Healthcare .gov Argument
Some critics of Obama's latest iPhone statement are saying that the Healthcare .gov site would not be such a mess if Obama had an iPhone. That's debatable. But, let's debate it with the stance that the iPhone's technology is superior to what BlackBerry offers.
With that in mind, Obama might have been more tech-savvy when it came to the Healthcare site disaster. If he had kept his eyes on what was happening with the site, that is – his V.P. did, in fact, tell press that he ‘assumed' everything was running smoothly, after all. Were Obama to have an iPhone, he might have had a better grip on the mess that the Healthcare .gov site was bound to make.
That's a giant leap in logic, but it's one argument that's going around today.
What to Take Away
Basically, use the device that you're used to. Your iPhone is safe, disasters like the Healthcare .gov one can't really be avoided all the time, and Obama likes his BlackBerry. Did I miss anything?
Incidentally, the Healthcare .gov site is still not fixed – just thought I'd throw that one in there too. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Hate iPhone? Love it? Speak up!
