Some military members who were working off Apple and Android-based smartphones and tablets now must return to using older model BlackBerrys because of a security service switchover, according to an email obtained byNextgov and confirmed by Pentagon officials.

The Defense Department is building a new mobile device management system to monitor government-issued consumer smartphones on military networks, but it's not yet ready for prime time.

Employees within at least one Army organization were forced to disconnect iPhones, iPads and Android devices from their existing security service, Good Mobile Messaging, because the Pentagon is deploying a new departmentwide system by Fixmo, states an email that appeared in an Army listserve.

Army personnel "have been told that between now and whenever this 'fixmo' is online, their Droids and iThings are simply to become useless," the email said. The Defense Information Systems Agency is in the midst of transitioning smartphone users in each military component to the full $16 million system.

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