The 413th Contracting Support Brigade, Ft. Shafter, Hawaii, which supports the U.S. Army Pacific, placed an order in late June for 12 Apple iPad tablet computers, the first federal order I have been able to find for the gizmos that, based on everything I have read, will change civilization as we know it.
The 413th paid $5,940 total for the 12 iPads, each equipped with 16GB of memory and WiFi but not cellular communications. That works out to $495 for each gadget, not much of a discount from Apple's retail price of $499.
I don't know if Ft. Shafter has an on-base WiFi network, but if not, there's a Starbucks and McDonalds nearby with free WiFi.
Bob Brewin
Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.
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