The iPod Goes to War
In this modern era, it’s no wonder that soldiers and other servicemen are carrying iPods. While they have been banned from some bases for their ability to transport data, many serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are packing iPods right along with guns and MREs. Remember last year when a soldier was saved when his iPod took a bullet?
But it seems that the Army is actually handing them out! Not just regular iPods, mind you, but beefed up super-iPods.
they’re all outfitted with special VCommunicator Mobile Iraqi Arabic translation software, external speakers, and an undisclosed amount of solar chargers to juice them up.
No word on whether or not the new iPods are bulletproof, but all that fancy war tech sets the price tag per unit up to a whopping $3,076.92! I hope they bought AppleCare.
Core77 picked up the story via Strategy Page ยป
// a tale of brands & branding, computers & gadgets, design: product
//
// 04 September 2008, 15:01
Why use iPods when they could just fit the kit onto something which would be cheaper, or develop a mass-produceable low-cost all-in-one alternative? Surely you can get translation software with external speakers for hundreds, rather than thousands these days.
// 04 September 2008, 15:12
Daniel, you’re forgetting one very fundamental thing about the Army: their performance isn’t based on their ability to make or save money. Since the Army isn’t a for-profit entity, they don’t have the same tradition relationship between money, resources, and performance.
In other words, they aren’t concerned with saving taxpayer dollars, because they won’t get any benefit from it.
I think in this case someone came up with the idea and it was put into place. And much like a giant freight train, you can’t simply stop a plan while it’s in motion. Yes, it’s tragic.