That’s
because a host of angry Twitter users reported renewed issues with their
handsets and an inability to send messages and email, even though Research In
Motion (RIM), the company behind Blackberry, claimed that all services were
“operating normally” just hours before.
Blackout
An
initial blackout affected Blackberry services in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa, before spreading to Latin America .
According to RIM, the problems were caused by core and back-up switch failures.
It
left millions of users without web browsing, email and Blackberry Messaging
Services after what was believed to be server problems at the company’s Slough data centre.
However,
Blackberry has since faced strong criticism for its handling of the situation
and this on the back of losing market share to rivals such as Apple’s iPhone.
Many corporate customers have switched to the iPhone after Apple made a
concerted effort to improve its support for secure business email systems.
Looking to switch?
According
to Malik Saadi, the principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, it will
take more than just a “couple of collapses” for loyal Blackberry customers to
switch to different devices.
However,
what if you are in the market for a new mobile phone? It’s worth waiting out
your existing contract and seeing if a network is willing to offer you a new handset
as an incentive for switching. Also look out for mobile phone
voucher codes, such as these at 5hop5.ie:
-
10
per cent off purchases over £100 at Conrad (voucher code expires October 31,
2011).
-
€13
off all orders over €400 at Pixmania Ireland
-
20
per cent extra free credit to new customers when they top up for the first time
using Localphone (voucher code expires October 31, 2011).
