RIM apologizes for BlackBerry downtime with $100 worth of free apps

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Research in Motion is offering BlackBerry owners $100 worth of free apps and one month of free technical support on top of formally apologizing for last week?s extended downtime that affected its mobile services both locally and aboard.



The apps can be obtained via the BlackBerry App World mobile store and include iSpeech Translator, Bejeweled and Texas Hold?em Poker 2, with the offer expiring at the end of the year. The free month of technical support is available to enterprise customers only, according to the Associated Press.



Last Thursday, RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis issued an official apology to BlackBerry users for the meltdown that left a significant number of users without data, roaming and messaging support for multiple days. However, neither he nor anyone else at the company has specifically addressed the cause of the outages or what steps are being taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future.



The BlackBerry services downtime started last Monday and affected users in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. After a second day of outages in international markets, BlackBerry services went down in the USA on Wednesday.







Ever before the that fiasco, RIM was facing increasing difficulties competing against rival mobile device solutions from Apple and Android device manufacturers. The Canadian device maker moved only 200,000 PlayBook units last quarter compared to the 9.3 million iPad units Apple shipped. Its monthly sales average of 4 million BlackBerry smartphones was also recently matched by Apple's new iPhone 4S in just 72 hours.



In an attempt to stem its downward momentum in its mobile division and offer customers the promise of continued innovation, RIM is reportedly preparing to launch a new mobile operating system for BlackBerry devices that ?leap frogs the mobile industry,' according to yet unsubstantiated claims from Co-CEO Jim Balsillie.



Shares of RIM have bled more than two-thirds of their value so far this year and now trade at $22.48.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    Games on a blackberry? That must feel like eating with both hands tied behind the back.
  • Reply 2 of 28
    Wow, impressive reimbursement.



    ?



    Are there even $100 worth of BlackBerry apps in existence?
  • Reply 3 of 28
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Are there even $100 worth of BlackBerry apps in existence?



    Beat me to it again!
  • Reply 4 of 28
    grmacgrmac Posts: 67member
    This could overwhelm Rim's IBM XT app server...
  • Reply 5 of 28
    It's a smart statement to make. Too bad it is so obvious he is reading off a prompter. If you want to look like you are really talking to your customers, practice and give a good performance because a poor performance like this one just makes it fake. (you CEO's cant all be Steve Jobs') Better off to read a paper in your hands if you cant be charismatic.
  • Reply 6 of 28
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Wow, impressive reimbursement.



    ?



    Are there even $100 worth of BlackBerry apps in existence?



    LMAO! That's what I was gonna say. And also on top of that, it's kinda hard to hear his apology when he's so horrible at reading it from the teleprompter without looking like he's reading it from a teleprompter.........This is sad! I hope for them that QNX or BBX or whatever they end up calling it will be a hit for their sakes.
  • Reply 7 of 28
    conradjoeconradjoe Posts: 1,887member
    RIM

    RIP



    /eom
  • Reply 8 of 28
    ronsterronster Posts: 153member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Its monthly sales average of 4 million BlackBerry smartphones was also recently matched by Apple's new iPhone 4S in just 72 hours.



    I think this is the most telling sign of their downfall. While I dont think they are totally DOA, I think the market has adjusted their stock price to the proper value due to the sales numbers compared to Apple.



    RIM is not going away yet, but it's coming (and I think someone is gonna pick them up for a song).
  • Reply 9 of 28
    jonamacjonamac Posts: 388member
    'Locally and aboard'?



    Seriously AI, if you need a proof reader just ask! It's getting embarrassing!
  • Reply 10 of 28
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Sucks to have blackberry.



    Now what's this about an outage?
  • Reply 11 of 28
    Take a look at the Map app interface.

    http://daringfireball.net/misc/2011/...-galaxy-50.png
  • Reply 12 of 28
    jonamacjonamac Posts: 388member
    Apart from the amateurish audible cue at the beginning, this is a really nice address IMO. It's honest and to the point. It's very late, but it's better than a press release.
  • Reply 13 of 28
    jonamacjonamac Posts: 388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kriskkalu View Post


    Take a look at the Map app interface.

    http://daringfireball.net/misc/2011/...-galaxy-50.png



    Bit off topic dude...



    It does look remarkably like a white 3GS, but to be fair, the iPhone's maps app is powered by Google...so it's probably not a fair point of comparison.
  • Reply 14 of 28
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    ...

    RIM is reportedly preparing to launch a new mobile operating system for BlackBerry devices that ?leap frogs the mobile industry,' according to yet unsubstantiated claims from Co-CEO Jim Balsillie.




    In other news, MacDonalds has announced plans to leapfrog the consumer with ever improving metrics on faster food, and flush their burgers straight down the toilet at no extra cost!

    They quote savings of 4-6 hours on the average consumption time for a Big Mac.
  • Reply 15 of 28
    It would be awesome if RIM actually planned to sell LIVE FROGS. That leap.

    (They can't do much worse at this point)
  • Reply 16 of 28
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by See Flat View Post


    It's a smart statement to make. Too bad it is so obvious he is reading off a prompter. If you want to look like you are really talking to your customers, practice and give a good performance because a poor performance like this one just makes it fake. (you CEO's cant all be Steve Jobs') Better off to read a paper in your hands if you cant be charismatic.



    I don't know why you guys are getting on his case, his response wasn't all that bad. It looked almost natural when he said his name, maybe if he practiced 4 or 5 more times, saying his name would have been believable and those that love RIM would be excited when blackberry reaches it's goal of $100 worth of apps by 2015. This giveaway is for the future, keeping it's customer base locked in, pretty good idea when you think about it.
  • Reply 17 of 28
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post


    'Locally and aboard'?



    Seriously AI, if you need a proof reader just ask! It's getting embarrassing!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    However, neither he nor anyone else at the company has specifically addressed the caused of the outages or what steps are being taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future.



    "getting" embarrasing? already is ...



    i set my limit at one per day ...
  • Reply 18 of 28
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post


    Bit off topic dude...



    It does look remarkably like a white 3GS, but to be fair, the iPhone's maps app is powered by Google...so it's probably not a fair point of comparison.



    It is off topic but you are wrong about the rest.



    The maps app on iOS is "powered" by Google, but the app itself, the design of it, and all the graphics are made by Apple. So if it *was* a screenshot of the Galaxy, then it's a blatant ripoff, copyright violation etc.



    Unfortunately, what it really is, is a screenshot of an iPhone that some designer stole off of a website and photoshopped it into the Galaxy ad when he/she was making the advertisement/web page. So it's really just illegal and misleading advertising, not copyright violation.



    I guess Samsung doesn't really care *which* laws they break, as long as they are breaking *some* kind of law.
  • Reply 19 of 28
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Why don't you just offer people $100 of raw fecal matter? At least then you could grow something useful.
  • Reply 20 of 28
    Having a blackberry before my iPhone 4, I can say that there are hardly any apps in the bb app store, let alone any worth buying, and that if you run/install too many apps, the phone bogs way wayyy wayyyyyy down. It's almost pointless to even offer this to the customers. I predict that RIM will fold in 5 years or less, or be bought out, strictly for their patents.
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