Theresa May Surrenders BlackBerry For Apple iPhone

The Prime Minister Theresa May has bowed to the inevitable and handed over her beloved BlackBerry smartphone.

The Prime Minister finally surrendered her beloved smartphone, after reportedly having resisted switching to an iPhone for some time.

Indeed, the Prime Minister whose Maidenhead constituency is home to Blackberry’s European headquarters, loved her BlackBerry so much she had its keyboard repaired on a number of occasions. This was despite BlackBerry having stopped making its own smartphones in 2016. It now licences other firms to make Android-based BlackBerry smartphones.

Last holdout

The Prime Minister was apparently the “last member of the No 10 team” still using a Blackberry handset, news site Politico reported.

She was even spotted with her BlackBerry clipped to her belt in last year’s general election campaign.

But like many Windows Phone fans, the Prime Minister has had to jump ship to either an Android or iOS device.

She is now using an iPhone, although it is reported that because of national security, her new iPhone is unlikely to be sporting many apps.

It is not known what phone her predecessor David Cameron had used, but Cameron was known to have been a big fan of the Apple iPad. Indeed, in December 2011 he received a personalised iPad app to help him govern the country.

And it should be noted that Theresa May is not the only fan of the BlackBerry device.

The Queen for example has toured the Canadian headquarters of BlackBerry and was said to be a long standing fan of the BlackBerry, ever since the Duke of York (Prince Andrew) first introduced her to the handsets back in 2007.

US Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was also reportedly wedded to her Blackberry Curve, and even got her staff to buy the model off Amazon or eBay even after Blackberry stopped making them.

Former President Barrack Obama was also a huge fan of BlackBerry smartphones, and after he was denied an iPhone for “security reasons” in 2013, he carried out using his trusty BlackBerry whilst in office.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also is a devotee of BlackBerry phones, but matters were soured in 2013 amid reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had bugged her BlackBerry.

Political tools

President Trump was the odd one out, as he reportedly used an old Samsung Galaxy smartphone (thought to be an ancient S3), before he was made to give it up over security concerns.

That has not stopped the President tweeting however.

On this side of the pond, all 650 MPs in Parliament are eligible to receive an iPad Air 2 as part of a House of Commons hardware refresh.

Mobile devices have been allowed in the House of Commons since 2011 and MPs have been offered iPads since 2012 in a bid to make parliamentary duties easier by reducing the amount of paperwork.

Remember enough about BlackBerry? Try our 2013 BlackBerry quiz!

Tom Jowitt

Tom Jowitt is a leading British tech freelancer and long standing contributor to Silicon UK. He is also a bit of a Lord of the Rings nut...

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