San Francisco  - US President Barack Obama is to get an ultra-secure smartphone so that he can keep up with emails on the go, according to a report Thursday in Atlantic magazine.

Obama has been an avid user of a Blackberry RIM for years, but security concerns meant that he could not keep a standard smartphone as president for fear that his communications would be hacked or his whereabouts revealed.

But Obama insisted on his need to keep a modern communications device in order to stay in touch with people outside the presidential bubble. His bid was boosted last week when John D Podesta, the head of Obama's transition team, wrote about the issue in an opinion piece for The Los Angeles Times.

"I've been working with Barack Obama since before the election, and I know that without his virtual connection to old friends and trusted confidants beyond the bubble that seals off every president from the people who elected him, he'd be like a caged lion padding restlessly around the West Wing, wondering what's happening on the other side of the iron bars that surround the People's House," Podesta wrote.

According to the Atlantic report, the solution has been found in a special BlackBerry look-alike made by General Dynamics and called the Sectera Edge.

The device was developed for the National Security Agency's "secure mobile environment portable electronic device program," and is "certified to protect wireless voice communications classified Top Secret and below as well as access e-mail and websites classified Secret and below," according to the company's website.

The price of such devices normally ranges from 2,650 dollars to 3,350 dollars.

No matter what device Obama winds up using, the president "may be less vulnerable to the most common attack: having his BlackBerry stolen or just forgetting it," said Ullrich. "I would think that his security detail will prevent this." (dpa)