BlackBerry users relived the agitation of last year's BlackBerry crash this weekend, when BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS) went down for a number of hours on Saturday.
In a replay of the historic BIS crash in October, BlackBerry users took to social networks to vent their frustration and get clarity as to why their e-mail, BlackBerry Messenger and Internet services were inoperative on Saturday afternoon. Also reminiscent of last year's debacle, no answers were forthcoming, either on the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's (RIM) official Twitter account, or on its Web site.
While network operator Vodacom tried to keep customers up to date on Twitter, it couldn't give any definitive answers, offering only slight assurances such as: “Hi guys, we are aware of the BlackBerry problem. We're chatting to RIM and will keep you updated.” That was at around 6pm on Saturday. Roughly three hours later, Vodacom followed up on Twitter with: “RIM has confirmed that there was an international service issue. Some browsing and BBM issues may still persist. We'll keep you updated.”
RIM did not respond to requests for further information at the time of publication.
Troubling times
RIM has been the subject of increasing speculation in the telecommunications industry over the past year, as it battles falling market share and delays in the release of its next smartphone.
The landscape is looking increasingly bleak for the Canadian firm, and industry observers say crumbling sales, staff layoffs, and the delayed launch of its next-generation BlackBerry handset until next year could herald the company's demise.
As reported by Reuters last week: “Shares of the company, which also announced a steeper-than-expected quarterly operating loss and deep job cuts on Thursday, plunged 14% after it said it would release its revamped BlackBerry 10 devices early in 2013.”
RIM said on Thursday it lost $192 million, or 37c per share, for the first quarter ended 2 June. Revenue declined 43%, to $2.81 billion. Over the past year the company's shares have dropped about 70%.
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