And in the big news of the day from Ireland: 
by Michael Grothaus Dec 14th 2012 at 1:00PM
The Irish government has announced that it will be dropping support for Blackberrys in favor of iPhones and Android devices, according to SiliconRepublic. The move affects Teachta Dála’s (TD’s) in the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). The government has decided that it’s no longer cost effective to maintain Blackberry support.According to SiliconRepublic:
One of the reasons Blackberry support is being dropped is the Oireachtas ICT unit no longer wishes to pay to keep a BlackBerry Enterprise Server running when no such server is required for Android or iPhone devices.
“The provision of support for BlackBerrys carries the additional cost of two separate servers, power, cooling, administration and annual support,” the spokesperson explained.
In another change up, the Irish government is also initiating a program where it will buy iPads wholesale and then allow TD’s who wish to use the devices to refund the cost to the Oireachtas. Originally the Oireachtas planned to purchase the iPads outright and distribute them to its members, but because of budgetary constraints, the governing body has now decided that members who want them must pay the government back for them.