Tracking the BlackBerry service outage worldwide – The Verge

DriveSafe.ly first app made free by RIM after BlackBerry outage

2011-10-21T11:46:01-04:00

DriveSafe.ly

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 four weeks. (Oddly, the list includes a $79.99 Enterprise version of DriveSafe.ly that adds some extra security and read-aloud caller ID.) They'll only b …

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RIM offers $100 app apology for downtime

2011-10-17T05:22:12-04:00

BBTorch23

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 confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again."

The list of downloadable apps includes the …

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BlackBerry services now ‘operating well’ around the world

2011-10-13T10:31:47-04:00

BlackBerry leather

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 hearing intermittent reports of issues in the US - let us know how things are going in the comments.

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RIM CEO Mike Lazardis says BlackBerry service approaching normal

2011-10-13T09:06:19-04:00

mike lazaridis

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 yet. Hit the break for the video and the source link for RIM's page detailing the restoration process.

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Microsoft giving away free Windows Phones to disgruntled BlackBerry and iPhone users

2011-10-13T02:12:17-04:00

Windows Phone

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 even been nice enough to widen the scope of the giveaway to iPhone users; quite a few iOS 5 upgraders have had trouble getting the latest software loaded on …

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RIM gives regional status updates for BlackBerry services, says many are back online

2011-10-12T21:55:30-04:00

BBTorch23

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 their services operating normally.

Problems from the original network failure in Europe and Africa cascaded through RIM's systems and eventually impacted c …

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RIM blames European backlog for NA BlackBerry failure, doesn’t say when outage will end

2011-10-12T15:55:37-04:00

BlackBerry leather

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 there's the time it's taken to stabilize that," the company explained. RIM added that it hasn't necessarily determined all the root causes of the failure yet, but it h …

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BlackBerry service outage spreads to North America

2011-10-12T10:25:39-04:00

BlackBerry Torch 9850

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 affected areas.

It is now unclear what the current extent of the problem is, and when services will return to normal.

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RIM says BlackBerry outage in Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa caused by failed switch, fix underway

2011-10-11T17:35:34-04:00

BlackBerry Torch 9850 software

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 frame for full service restoration. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything.

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BlackBerry service down once again in Europe and Asia

2011-10-11T11:57:24-04:00

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.

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