There are not a lot of happy Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) customers right now. BlackBerry just had a massive disruption that was caused by a BlackBerry Messenger update. Another update was immediately released to alleviate further disruptions. When the disruption took place yesterday around 6:30PM, there were thousands of tweets and Facebook status messages being sent out in the form of a complaint. Some of the messages said “I survived the BlackBerry Apocalypse.”
BlackBerry users still had access to voice services and text messages, but BBM did not work for many users. Below is a statement that Research In Motion sent out to BlackBerry users (via CrackBerry):
RIM Statement – December 23rd
A service interruption occurred Tuesday that affected BlackBerry customers in the Americas. Message delivery was delayed or intermittent during the service interruption. Phone service and SMS services on BlackBerry smartphones were unaffected. Root cause is currently under review, but based on preliminary analysis, it currently appears that the issue stemmed from a flaw in two recently released versions of BlackBerry Messenger (versions 5.0.0.55 and 5.0.0.56) that caused an unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure. RIM has taken corrective action to restore service.
RIM has also provided a new version of BlackBerry Messenger (version 5.0.0.57) and is encouraging anyone who downloaded or upgraded BlackBerry Messenger since December 14th to upgrade to this latest version which resolves the issue. RIM continues to monitor its systems to maintain normal service levels and apologizes for any inconvenience to customers.
BE SURE TO UPGRADE to the latest version of BlackBerry Messenger. You can grab it by visiting blackberry.com/messenger from your BlackBerry’s web browser or from BlackBerry App World.
Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) has had a great third quarter as the number of BlackBerry units sold increased substantially. The company had earnings of $628 million and sold about 10 million BlackBerry devices. RIM also made a deal with China Telecom for additional distribution of BlackBerry devices in China. The deal is similar to an existing deal RIM has with China Mobile. There are currently about 75 million BlackBerry devices being used in the market today.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) has launched a new feature on the BlackBerry App World called Themes. This means that there are now free and paid user interface themes. BlackBerry started accepting theme submissions about a month ago for the BlackBerry Theme Studio.
AT&T has added the BlackBerry Curve 8520 to their line of smartphones just in time for the holiday season. The phone will be selling for $99.99 after a $100 mail in rebate in the next few days. The mail-in rebate is not a check, but it acts as a $100 AT&T promotion card. The specs of the 8520 include 512 MHz processor, 256MB flash memory, and a 2 megapixel camera.
Research In Motion is working on a way to download apps from BlackBerry App World through carrier billing services rather than PayPal. This would be an especially useful feature for those who prefer not to have a PayPal account.
RIM CEO Jim Balsillies announced the upcoming bill carrier changes at the BlackBerry Developer Conference. This will also make it easier for spontaneous purchases.
Soon a BlackBerry Theme Studio will be launched. This will make the user interface more customizable and there will also be a new advertising service for developers to integrate ads into apps.
Tomorrow T-Mobile is selling the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for $199.99. This is great news for T-Mo since it is their first 3G BlackBerry phone that they are selling. The specs of the phone include a 480×360 display and a 3.2 megapixel camera.
Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) has made the BlackBerry Bold 9700 announcement official. The 9700 previously had the codename Onyx. The Bold 9700 has a 3.2 megapixel camera and will have the BlackBerry OS 5.0 preinstalled. Instead of using a trackball the Bold 9700 will be using an optical trackpad. The Bold 9700 will ship in two different network options. The first is 900/1700/2100 and the second is the 800/850/1900/2100MHz 3G option. RIM said that “carriers around the world” would be selling the device. AT&T said they will be selling the device for $199 after mail in rebate and T-Mobile said that their version will support voice calling over WiFi.
Vodafone will be selling the BlackBerry Storm2 phone on October 26 for pre-order. The phone will be free as long as you sign up for a monthly contract at £35+. The specs of the Storm2 includes a 3.25″ 360×480 pixel capacitive SurePress display, 802.11b/g WiFi, 256MB flash memory, 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 2GB memory, Bluetooth 2.1, and a battery that supports 6 hours of 3G talk-time. The phone will be powered by the BlackBerry OS 5 operating system. On October 15 the phone will be available in Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, South Africa, and the U.K.
There are not a lot of happy Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) customers right now. BlackBerry just had a massive disruption that was caused by a BlackBerry Messenger update. Another update was immediately released to alleviate further disruptions. When the disruption took place yesterday around 6:30PM, there were thousands of tweets and Facebook status messages being sent out in the form of a complaint. Some of the messages said “I survived the BlackBerry Apocalypse.” 
Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) has had a great third quarter as the number of BlackBerry units sold increased substantially. The company 
