Sign of the times
Obama has lobbied to keep the device over the concerns of the Secret Service. While a presidential BlackBerry would enhance the maker's image, its encryption would be a target for spies, putting its "sterling" reputation for confidentiality at risk, analyst Roger Entner said.
"The moment it becomes known that Barack Obama uses his BlackBerry, you know that a significant share of Russia's signal intelligence and China's signal intelligence and cyberintelligence budgets will be targeted to break it," said Entner, an analyst with market researcher Nielsen in Boston.
