Tracking the BlackBerry service outage worldwide
BlackBerry service has been up and down in Europe, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia for several days — we're tracking it all right here.
BlackBerry
DriveSafe.ly first app made free by RIM after BlackBerry outage
We're not sure if RIM's plan to offer $100 worth of free apps to BlackBerry customers to make up for last week's four-day service outage will mend any fences, but let the healing begin: the first free app is DriveSafe.ly Pro, which normally costs $19.99. The app reads text messages and emails aloud while you're driving, and lets you reply or make phone calls with voice commands. It's the first of a dozen apps that will be made free for subscribers; the others, will be available over the next...
RIM offers $100 app apology for downtime
Now that services have returned to normal, RIM is attempting to salvage its reputation with customers by offering a free selection of premium apps valued at more than $100. The apps will be available from the BlackBerry App World in the coming weeks and remain available for download until the end of 2011. RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said, "We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience. We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their...
BlackBerry services now 'operating well' around the world
Well that was fast: RIM says that BlackBerry services around the world are now "operating well," just a few hours after RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis posted a video apologizing for prolonged outages this week and saying that he couldn't provide a definitive timeline on a fix. That's great news, but it sounds like it'll take some time for things to fully settle down: RIM says customers in Canada and Latin America will have a few lingering issues sending international messages, and we're still...
RIM CEO Mike Lazardis says BlackBerry service approaching normal
Things are slowly getting better for BlackBerry users around the world, as RIM restores service after a four-day outage that took down BBM and email across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa. That's the word straight from RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, who's posted a contrite video apologizing for the outage and informing customers that the company expects to see some additional instability as systems fully come back online — a process that has no definite timeline as of...
Microsoft giving away free Windows Phones to disgruntled BlackBerry and iPhone users
RIM's bruised and battered reputation is taking another hit today, courtesy of Microsoft's Ben Rudolph who has taken to Twitter to ask users to detail their discontent with using a BlackBerry. In order to set their tongues free, Ben has procured 25 Windows Phone devices, which he will give away for free -- presumably to those with the most torrid tale of BlackBerry blues. Microsoft's ploy looks to have worked, since Ben has been busy retweeting a great many displeased BB users since. He's...
RIM gives regional status updates for BlackBerry services, says many are back online
RIM says in an official status update that many BlackBerry services are operating again — and chatter on Twitter suggests users agree — but some areas are still experiencing outages. RIM says that BlackBerry email systems are operating everywhere, but it is continuing to clear backlogged messages. BBM and browsing services are online everywhere except for Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, and three unnamed carrier networks in Latin America. And lucky folks in the U.S. should see all...
RIM blames European backlog for NA BlackBerry failure, doesn't say when outage will end
BlackBerry customer worries are reaching a fever pitch after a three-day service outage, so RIM just threw an impromptu press conference to explain itself. Unfortunately, the company didn’t provide any guidance on when we can expect service to be restored, but it did say that a massive backlog of unsent European messages and emails is the reason why the outage has spread this far. "It’s a backlog issue… clearly we’ve got a backlog in Europe based on the initial outage, and then...
BlackBerry
BlackBerry service outage spreads to North America
RIM and its customers are having a terrible week. For the past few days, major service outages have ravaged Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Last night came word that parts of South America were now being affected, so this morning's news that North America is losing service as well should not be a surprise. RIM had said mid-Tuesday that service was up and running and back to normal, but later said it was still working on the problem. There is currently no specific information on specific...
BlackBerry
RIM says BlackBerry outage in Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa caused by failed switch, fix underway
Still no good news for BlackBerry users in Europe, Asia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and parts of Africa that have been without service for the better part of two days now, but at least RIM's identified the problem — in statement to Pocket-lint, the company said that the problems were caused by a "core switch failure" that didn't kick over to its backup as planned. The result has been a "large backlog" of messages and data that needs to be cleared, but RIM still hasn't committed to a time...
BlackBerry service down once again in Europe and Asia
And here we go again. BlackBerry service in Europe and Asia is reportedly down once more, just hours after RIM said it had been restored following yesterday's 20-hour outage. Both BBM and email are affected, and T-Mobile says that a Europe-wide issue with the BlackBerry network is at the heart of the problems. We'll let you know if and when RIM gets this latest downtime fixed — stay tuned.
BlackBerry
BlackBerry service in Europe and Asia restored after day of outage
It hasn't been a fun 20 hours for BlackBerry users across Europe and Asia, but RIM says that email and Blackberry Messenger services are now working normally again after going out early yesterday. There's no word on why the outage occurred, but RIM says that messages were simply "delayed," so it doesn't sound like any data got lost in transit. We'd still double check to make sure, though — and let us know how things are going for you in comments.
BlackBerry
BlackBerry service down in parts of Europe and Africa
As if RIM hasn't had enough problems on its hands, BlackBerry users across the world are reporting complete BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) outages. The issues seems to be isolated to Europe, including the UK and Ireland, and Africa, with hundreds of users reporting no email, BBM, and web connectivity. (The US saw a similar outage in September, but it was confined to just BBM service.) RIM 's UK team has confirmed the outage with a tweet stating that they are investigating the issue. We'll...
