Apropos of the ongoing ruckus about President-elect Obama’s BlackBerry — the so-called “BarackBerry” — an interesting question is coming to the fore: why is the President, or even a prominent Senator for that matter, using a civilian mobile phone? With matters of national security, policy, and locations of our most powerful citizens being beamed through the air, it behooves us as a technologically savvy country to provide a cellular solution for heads of state that doesn’t have to be worried about.
It’s led us to a long discussion and rumination: exactly what would such a phone look like? What would it do and not do? What services would be available? And who would make it?
