On Thursday, at the 2009 Intelligence Warfighting Summit, Raytheon announced that they are developing a series of mission software applications designed for the iPhone. At the summit, Raytheon showcased their One Force Tracker. This app allows the military to pinpoint their targets’ exact position using the Iphone’s GPS system. In a New York Times blog post, it says that there will also be maps that will use augmented reality qualities to show battlefields. “Maps with an overlay of points of interest are familiar to every GPS user. The Raytheon app would use the same concept, but points of interest might be known sniper sites or safe fallback positions,” says the New York Times.
“Raytheon’s experience with mobile communications in the tactical environment and the government customers’ need for low-power, simple plug-and-play applications led to the development of a real-time situational awareness application using Apple‘s touch technologies,” said Dr. J Smart, chief technology officer of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business.
Raytheon indicated that the iPhones would have to be altered to have increase security that the military would need. They will also address the battery issue that the iPhone has, so that the military will have a longer-lasting iPhone. In a press release, Raytheon stated that they are working with Apple on these military apps. In the past, Apple has been very strict with what apps they approve. Also, these military apps will cause the iPhones to be altered to address some of the extra features that the military will need. Will Apple actually do this?
If Apple wants to get into the government and business arenas, then they should definitely assist Raytheon in doing this. In business, companies usually only supply Blackberries. This could leverage the iPhone as a business phone, which really hasn’t been the case in the past.
