Obama gets clearance to keep using his 'BarackBerry'

— -- President Obama, a self-proclaimed BlackBerry addict, won't have to give up his smartphone for personal and professional use, after all.

But communication on the device — quickly dubbed the "BarackBerry" in news reports — will be limited to senior staff "and a small group of personal friends," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced Thursday. He declined to elaborate on the names of people in the president's calling circle.

Gibbs declined to talk about the device's anti-hacker features, saying only that it has super-encrypted software and "enhanced" security.

When President Bush took office eight years ago, smart devices were hardly mainstream, and GPS technology, which can pinpoint the location of users via satellite, was still nascent. Obama, in sharp contrast, grew up with technology. On the campaign trail, Obama was frequently photographed tapping away on his BlackBerry.

Gibbs said Obama was reluctant to cut that tie. The president "believes it's a way of keeping in touch with folks" so he doesn't "get stuck in a bubble."

Aside from "strictly personal communications," Gibbs says records of the president's mobile communications would be kept, in accordance with the law.

"It's the only device approved by NSA (the National Security Agency) for top-secret communications," he noted.

Entner says BlackBerry — which is a trademark of RIM — is often used as if it were a generic term, "sort of like Kleenex," which could account for the confusion. The Sectéra, which is actually a repurposed Palm Treo 750, is spy-proof, he says. The device was created according to specifications laid out by NSA and only started shipping recently.