Crackberry to Crashberry

10^th October was the beginning of the most devastating service failure in the history of Research in Motion (RIM). BlackBerry users were unable to use the internet, send or receive e-mails or use Blackberry’s own communication platform BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

Mike Laziridis, founder and co-CEO of RIM apologised on the 17th of October by announcing the compensation for the service stoppage: “We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience.”

12 free applications can be downloaded from BlackBerry App World including popular games such as Sims 3 and Texas Hold’em Poker as well as service apps like Photo Editor Ultimate and DriveSafe.ly Pro. These are available until 31st December.

However, analysts say that this compensation may not be sufficient to save their reputation. Instead RIM needs to focus on retaining their customers and gaining potential customers’ trust in the service. This can be summed up in just one word in the case of BlackBerry: reliability.

Its secure, reliable and prompt service system was the main attraction for consumers, especially for business customers.
In the current smartphone market BlackBerry has been struggling to keep up in the competition with the Apple iPhone or phones running the Android operating system.  The upcoming months will illustrate how and if RIM can successfully compete in the battle for customers. Meanwhile Blackberry users can enjoy the free apps and return to using their “crackberries”.