RIM reportedly working with India to avoid BlackBerry ban
There were reports as late as this morning that RIM was remaining "defiant" over the looming (and recurring ) BlackBerry ban in India and not willing to cut any "special deals," but it looks like that may not be the case after all -- Reuters is reporting that RIM has assured India that it will provide a " technical solution" sometime next week. That's presumably similar to the arrangement RIM recently worked out with Saudi Arabia, but India still isn't making any final decisions just yet, with a government source simply saying that its " technical team will evaluate if it works." Somewhat curiously, the source also mentioned that India had "concerns" about Gmail and Skype, but didn't offer any further details. For its part, RIM has issued a customer update that outlines the four main principles that govern the capabilities it provides to carriers for "lawful access purposes." Head on past the break for the complete statement
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: BlackBerry, blackberry ban, customer-update, fri, government, india, main-principles, rim, saudi, saudi arabia, Solution
BlackBerry messaging shut down in Saudi Arabia, users feel early withdrawal pains
We can't say this is exactly a surprise , but we are rather saddened to learn that Saudi Arabia has apparently carried through on its threats to shut down all BlackBerry messaging services functionality due to "security concerns." Users there are reporting that they are no longer able to use their keyboards for the jobs they were intended, forcing them to actually call friends -- with their voices. Saudi Arabia has threatened $1.3 million fines for any wireless provider that does not play nicely and, until those threats are lifted, we're thinking BBM is down for the count out there
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: BlackBerry, concerns, fri, keyboards, rim, saddened, saudi arabia, saudiarabia, security, surprise, voices
RIM’s Lazaridis: if goverments can’t deal with the internet, ‘they should shut it off’
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has made some pretty bold statements in the past, but he may just have topped himself in responding to the recent issue of countries banning or threatening to ban BlackBerrys -- to which you can now add Indonesia to the list. Speaking with The Wall Street Journal in what's described as a "fiery" interview, Lazaridis said that "this is about the Internet," and that "everything on the Internet is encrypted. This not a BlackBerry-only issue," before adding that if "they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." But that's not all
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: before-adding, black, blackberryban, blackberrys, entry, goverments, indonesia, internet, lazaridis, mike, mike lazaridis, saudi arabia
BlackBerry email, web and messaging banned in UAE due to ‘security concerns’
Looks like those regulators over in the Middle East don't mess about. Following this week's revelation that the United Arab Emirates' telco overseers weren't happy with being unable to monitor how people were using their BlackBerrys, today we're hearing what their solution to the problem will be: an outright ban. Internet access, email and instant messaging on RIM devices will be blocked in the UAE starting this October -- provided, of course, that the Canadian phone maker doesn't do something in the meantime to appease the authorities
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: communication, concerns, data, internet, messaging, regulators, result, saudi arabia, saudiarabia, snoop, web