QOTD

September 16, 2008 at 12:11 pm PT

He did this [holds up Blackberry]. Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years–comes right through the Commerce Committee–so you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

– John McCain’s domestic policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin gives the senator his Al Gore moment

Tagged with: Al Gore, Blackberry, Internet, John McCain, John Paczkowski, quoted, shorty

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Robert Hoover

I would like to point out that following 9/11, and the DC beltway sniper events that the Federal Govt, and more specifically, Congress worked very closely with handheld manufacturers to create a secure emergency messaging solution. Palm was the first company to work with the feds by providing it’s Tungsten W which provided push messaging and voice. These devices were introduced and used for government far before business / consumer models became mainstream (as is often the case for technology).

Several Senators were spearheading this mobile device initiative, including Senators McCain and Robert Byrd. The device usage feedback and feature requests from these early government pilots of mobile messaging DID shape into what the business / consumer market uses today, so DO give credit where credit is due! His aids didnt claim he created the Blackberry, they merely mentioned his role (experience) in the matter.
John Mullinax

Interesting article, even more so given that RIM (maker of the Blackberry) is a Canadian company. :-) Oh yeah, and Al Gore invented the internet.