RIM Offers Users Free Apps After Support Following Black Berry Service Outage

Following last week's major service disruptions, Research in Motion (RIM) is offering free applications and support as compensation, the company said on Monday. After a BlackBerry service outage that lasted more than three days, RIM is trying to make amends with users by offering them a selection of premium apps for free, as well as one month of free technical support.

There are currently 12 apps on offer, including SIMS 3, Bejeweled, Texas Hold’em Poker 2, Bubble Bash and Shazam Encore, and RIM claims more will be added at a later date. RIM said it will give away applications worth US$100 to consumers and offer enterprise customers one month of free support to help make up for the problems.

Enterprise customers will be offered one month of free technical support; current customers will get a one month extension on their existing contract. "As an expression of appreciation for their patience," RIM said users will be able to download premium applications such as Sims 3, Bejeweled and Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant beginning Oct. 19 from BlackBerry App World.

The total value of the applications will be more than $100, but availability of the applications depend on what phone and operating system version a user has, RIM added.
The BlackBerry service outage, which lasted for the better part of last week, was one of the worst such outages in the history of the company, leaving millions of customers worldwide without access to various apps and services such as e-mail. Enterprise users will receive free support instead of applications. Those who don't have a technical support contract will receive a one month trial of RIM's BlackBerry Technical Support Services, according to RIM.

The offerings come after BlackBerry users last week experienced service interruptions and delays over a period of approximately three days in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa; a day and a half in Latin America and Canada; and one day in the U.S. On Thursday, services finally resumed.

RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis publicly apologized after the outage, and now RIM is trying to make the entire experience less painful with some apps and free support. It’s a nice gesture, but we’re not entirely sure that users who were unable to access their e-mail for several days will be satisfied with a bunch of free apps, half of which are games. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again," co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in the statement, but didn't elaborate on what the company actually plans to do.