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347 Comments

CrackBerry Asks: What would you like to see, if anything, from RIM in terms of reparations for the BlackBerry service outage?

By Kevin Michaluk on 13 Oct 2011 10:41 am
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Are you looking for a BlackBerry hand out to make up for the service outage? If so, what?!

Both of RIM's Co-CEOs were on today's BlackBerry service update conference call. One of the questions asked to them in the Q&A session was in regards to what RIM would do in terms of reparations to the customers who were affected these past few days. The answer from RIM was that the top priority was first restoring service globally. With that now completed, from here they'll start to think on that subject and get back to customers. So this leads us to the....

Question of the Week: What would you like to see from RIM in terms of reparations over the service outage? As a BlackBerry customer, do you expect something? If yes, what? A month of free service? A discount off your next BlackBerry? Credit in App World? The comments are open and I'm sure RIM is listening, so sound off and let us know. Personally I don't want anything... I'm just happy to have service back!

Topics: BIS Outage October 2011 News & Rumors

RIM says Global BlackBerry Services have been fully restored Previous
Listen to the RIM BlackBerry Service Press Conference replayNext
Kevin Michaluk Kevin Michaluk 3676 (articles) 3018 (forum posts)
347 comments

3Dee

Nothing expected, nothing needed, just keep the service up and running.

kilroy2730

I agree!!

JasW

I for one demand forty acres and a mule.

dentynefire

poor mule, hold out for two

jlb21

I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father. Prepare to Die!

JNM

I see that you are aware of a certain history yet too ignorant not to put your foot deep into you mouth.

SDBB_kick

Seriously? Get over it.

bobalooski

We have forty acres and two mini donkeys, will that be okay?

Rootbrian

That would be brilliant! ...But I could use a 9810 from WINDmobile so I can have an even deeper discount on the tab! :D

ianbordas

MAKE AT&T RELEASE THE 9900 TODAY!!!

dani_cain

I agree! Give AT&T customers the 9900!!!!!

ibcnul8ter

25 days and counting till my 9810 upgrade is permanent!

KiDPaul

I third this, if anything give us a special app or some kind of credit in the app world.

koolrosh

I agree. They should give a $5-$10 credit on the App World. It would not only encourage people to use App World, but it would support developers and it will cost them less because of the 30% royalty that they get.

lorax1284

This was going to be my suggestion, too... it would be great if there was music, hollywood movies, and apps in the store for everyone to choose from. Seed all those devices with multimedia.

Let's face it: Both Amazon AND Apple have the content, but are just now building out the infrastructure (Apple via iCloud, Amazon by releasing the Fire). RIM has both the devices and the infrastructure, but not the content: they have to get the ball rolling... it's a WIN-WIN if RIM can compensate users by allowing them to download some media that they would otherwise NOT have or would have had to pay out of pocket for... and for RIM, since they take a portion off the top of each sale, the perceived outlay by customers would cost RIM less.

ibcnul8ter

Here RIM is, pissing people off, and they can take a full swing at it and hit a home run. Why not use all the attention and offer some appworld credit. i would be happy with a free app. BUT THEN AGAIN, I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE MY OS6 APPS ON OS7 ALREADY RIM!!!!

maxb1ack

... like release Skype app for all carriers :D !!!

cray.mock

+ 1 and continue to be more open with it's customers. I think it makes a huge difference.

diegonei

Really, this was actually the bright side of the whole issue: Having the CEO address the situation and come forward to talk to all os us.

If RIM can keep that kind of PR going, then I can see the RIMpire striking back BIG TIME!

But I'll settle for $25 credit on App World for the moment.

hedone.hawker

I totally agree with that!!!!!! ;) well... maybe even with that second part (25$ credit) :D

shebmiller

+1 although a credit in BB Movies when released would be kind of cool :)

doug1010

I agree. But I'm liking these credit ideas lol :)

luqman24

Silverlight feature on the upcoming 2.0 update for the Playbook :D

Superfly_FR

+1
Focus on service and technical improvement.

nlk10010

I agree, although I WOULD like to see some transparency; i.e. tell us what happened and what they're doing to minimize the possibility of a repeat. You know, it's like when anyone makes a "mistake": acknowledge it, suffer the consequences and then work like hell to see that it never happens again.

jlb21

RIM has to be careful here....

If there really was a single point of failure, they don't really want to advertise it.....who knows who might want that info........

Joe257

You're right on! Bad stuff happens, and I think RIM will work to ensure this doesn't happen again. I don't want to punish them when they're already working hard to fix this mess. If they weren't acknowledging or working hard to fix it, then we have a different issue.

Just keep up the good work, RIM! Those on Android or iOS will soon realize, with services like push messaging, you're going to have some outages. They're no different!

I'm happy to see RIM acknowledge and address the media on it, but I wish they did that sooner and use it as a public relations bonanza rather than avoiding or hiding it! It's an excuse to highlight the benefits of BlackBerry and to showcase their great reliability record. There are ways to twist a negative into a positive. Don't miss or step over those opportunities!

Lumute

+1

I would like to add a compromise to improve the flow of information to their customers specially when this kind of problems occour. They totally need to improve communication, respect promised deadlines, add release notes and change logs, even if just a high overview of them... In general, repect you customers more!

igrar#IM

My carrier UAE Etisalat has refunded the value of 3 days' Blackberry service to me.....kudos to them.

maxb1ack

what is it... 5$ ? :D

Maloy

Agree. The glitch in service is nothing to knot the knickers.

yvpan1

+1 basically from me, but just wanna add up a bit. I guess RIM should now think about having another fallback system which can reroute the BIS traffic to the carrier's network when the sh*t happens (hopefully not anymore :D), so that people won't be left stressing out. Having a centralized global infrastructure is a good thing, however, on the other hand, this could also impose a significant service impairment as well when it goes down.

I love the fact that RIM's server is up for 99.997%, keep it up RIM. Other than that, I'm waiting for a serious innovation on your DevCon & the BBX!

BRING IT ON, RIM!

BGK

Out here in BC we had a slight blip on the emails (they came in bunches every few hours for about a day) Just not a problem. Nothing needed here except as 3Dee stated keep the service up and running.

BBThemes

BBM teeshirts (or RIMpire stirkes back ones) :)

helps build brand image - advertising - and appeases people.

AMWausau

I would love RIM to give all their customers a RIMpire Striked Back. But would be better is my desire to wear a tee shirt like that. Without a new marketing department RIM will continue to be the laughing stock of the world. Big deal it isnt true. Perception is everything and these people need to wake up before we are forced to go to other devices as the company crumbles. My employer requires that I point out I work for them. I sell Cellphones. Blackberrys may never be the coolest. They can be and more often than not are the most fucntional. Why am I the only one saying this? Cellcom Empoloyee

engineer2001

Well, I hardly think RIM is a "laughing stock" to anyone who has an objective mind (which rules out other platform fanboys/fangirls who can only see their platform as worthy). However, as you say, they really don't explain why their platform is best - I agree there.

I went into a Verizon store and was shocked by how awesome the Torch 9850 was. I went in to look at the Droid Bionic, and I actually didn't care for the way it felt. I would rather have walked out with the 9850 if it had Flash support. I *need* (not want, need) Flash support in my phone, as some of my critical apps online are Flash-based. Most people probably don't use the same banking/video apps I use, and they would love the Torch even without Flash support. But, it doesn't get the same level of advertising as the other devices. I didn't even know it was available until I saw it in person.

RIM needs to do better advertising. You are 100% right on that.

SDBB_kick

Great idea! I'll take 2 to make sure I'm never without.

Robert22

I want a stronger battery and a better camera on the 9900!

DirtySantos

I don't even have a 9900 but I wish for all those that do to get a better battery. Most of my BB friends have one and that's all they complain about.

av8ryxx

None. Do you ask your car maker for reparations when you have to take your car in for service? People need to relax!

engineer2001

Well, that's not a valid analogy. Imagine your car (say a Toyota) was designed to only work by passing through a Toyota-created tunnel, no matter where you went. Go to work - pass through that tunnel. Go to the grocery store - pass through that tunnel. Then, they break the tunnel, and you can't go anywhere. You are stuck at home, miss work, and can't go buy groceries.

Cars aren't dependent on manufacturer services (yet) to function. There are no mandatory routes you have to take to get places. If your car breaks, you can take it anywhere to be fixed, and all other car owners get to continue driving. When the BlackBerry services that your phone depends on to function properly go down, they have damaged your ability to do anything with your phone. You can't "drive" anymore, and neither can anyone else.

Still, I can't imagine RIM will give users anything, since it would be seriously costly to do so. Plus, it would set a dangerous precedent, and people would expect blood money next time an outage happened.

How about releasing a free Android/iOS/WP7 app so your friends can message you now using BBM? That would benefit everyone and is something they have been rumored to be doing anyway. I mean a "real" BBM that runs on the other OSes, not Kik, which can be pulled at any time or sold for a fee. The fact that Kik is a free 3rd party app now doesn't mean it will always be free/available or work with future BBs.

theHip

Don't be dumb, you could still make phone calls and send texts.

engineer2001

Oh, I don't see where I said you couldn't send texts or make calls? Most people (myself included) buy BlackBerries for email/BBM/messaging. I can send texts and make calls with a feature phone (eww - the moped/scooter of mobile phones).

melander

I also use my Berry for phone calls and texts. I get my email directly to the BB via Logicmail. I was not down at all, though I do sympathize for those that depend on BIS. NOC is a common term in the IT world, and mostly refers to an Operations staff but I see it is a buzzword for log time BB users "RIM NOC". For non BES users the phone is much more capable than just BIS, and personally, I don't want any system outside of my own handheld or desktop that holds my passwords to e.g. Gmail, Yahoo. BBM is the only thing that is unique and needs RIM's datacenters to work.

Fnord

Now imagine that the Toyota only requires about 1/3 the gas over all other cars because of the Toyota-created tunnel. With 99.997% uptime that seems like a win to me (with all my gas savings)!

ffejie

Who's got 99.997% uptime? By my calculation, at least 80% of users were without BlackBerry functionality for 16 hours, 40% were out for an additional 40 hours.

This means that they experienced about 28 hours of downtime per user. This puts them at around 99.68% for the year, assuming no more (or previous) outages.

For 99.997% uptime, they're allowed about 16 minutes of downtime per year. They would literally need to have 100 years of flawless service to get to 99.997% when you include this event.

Obviously, we need to wipe the slate clean, and restart metrics every year, but let's try to get to 99.99% next year, eh RIM?

More on topic, I'd like to see some free apps for users that suffered through it. Even better, a $5 credit to BlackBerry app world would do a lot of good for the developers and the users.

Fnord

Think I had one too many 9's in there. I believe that was the number Mike put out on today's conf call for uptime over the last 18 months (recent downtime not included).

ffejie

Really, Mike said they have 99.97% uptime over the last 18 months and then FAILED TO MENTION THE 3 DAY OUTAGE?

That's a complete non-stater for me. That's like getting pulled over and saying: "Officer, as you can see, I've never sped in the last 18 months."

"Sir, you were going 100 MPH in a 65."

"Yes, I know, but aside from that, things are great!"

lorax1284

I think Mike's point was that PRIOR to this outage, uptime has been excellent... of course he's on YouTube APOLOGIZING for something really bad, NOT for "business as usual". Cut him some slack.

Unfortunately, RIM's process seems to be "appeasement after letting the situation get dire". They'd have less to appease if Jim or Mike went on the Tubes on Tuesday.

I would have been on there right away, even saying "We don't know what's gone wrong yet... a large part of this is that if we DID know, it either wouldn't have happened, or we'd be able to fix it quickly: we're working 'round the clock to find out what went wrong so it can be fixed, and fixed in a way that it won't go down again. This is unprecedented, and we're working on it."

Water under the bridge I guess... :-(

JtotheV

You forget to mention that that tunnel is repaired within a day, so who cares if it goes down for a day. I can live without my car or my phone for a day.

m12k1177

i'm pretty sure his point was that everything requires downtown time or servicing and we can't always expect something in return.

your analogy with the tunnels was just superfluous.

jfuqua@tiorco.com

Actually your analogy has a flaw in it, this would be a good thing. Not going to work but just having to stay at home? I don't see this a s an issue. Also other drivers are crazy and shouldn't be on the road anyway, not until they can drive like me, perfect ;)

zoryad

Yeh! Free BBM would be nice!

AMWausau

Read my comment above if you would please. Someone was asking for RIMpire Strikes Back Tee Shirts. I would pay to wear them if RIM got a new Marketing/pr department capable of explaining how cool it is to be more functional than other format smart phones. Cellcom Empoloyee

shemaree09

I dont expect anything, because things happen. I feel RIM worked really hard at relieving the issue.

BUT a credit in AppWorld or service discount would be nice :)

yukonlady

I agree with you 100%. An AppWorld credit could be a bonus, but am just glad to be connected to my Crackberry once again!

SDishman

Second that! I agree with some credits applied to app world!

leafs123

A free bumper case because the phone couldn't make calls...oh wait, BBs still made calls through the outage.

FranzJoseph

For them to release OS 2.0 for the playbook on Tuesay October 18th. That would make me happy enough.

rholford

Why wait until then? Today is good for me!

Zudeo

I'm not owed this, but OS 2.0 on the PlayBook. I don't expect anything from RIM besides great service.

dentynefire

If it is ready I am all for this! Of course today would be nice too.

DOUBLE_BASS

QNX phones out beginning of 2012

Ralph_

Keep the service alive! But in fact, a Credit on App Store or a voucher of 50$/€ on my next blackberry.

Like that, i'll buy my 9900 for 419€ ASAP!

wxmancanada

I agree. Nothing is owed to us from RIM, keep the servers up, that's all I want. If they really wanted to do something for everyone though, as mentioned above a small credit for AppWorld wouldn't be frowned upon.

MrPat

I expect the whinners to leave BB and go elsewhere.

akrahn

Would they like some cheese with that whine they are drinking!

PeterRei

Nothing - happy with my BB again!

guerllamo7

I don't want anything but I do want to support BlackBerry. Is there a place we can buy a T-Shirt with the BlackBerry logo?

This issue was bad for RIM and there is no question about that but it just confirms how much I've come to rely on them and how terrible life without them is.

Any ideas on where I can buy a BlackBerry t-shirt?

ZeUgly

In reply to guerllamo7 here is an online store with BB related products http://blackberrypr.spreadshirt.com/
Not sure if I can post links, if not let me know to remove it

jr4941

OS 2.0 for my playbook :)

lockedtight

I don't really expect something, nor do I feel entitled to something, but I feel that a simple credit to everyone's app world that was affected would probably cheer alotta people up and may help to save customers. That said, I do not feel entitled to anything because I know hardware malfunctions happen and there is nothing that can be done about them sometimes.

johnmarki

Well said. I agree completely.

jhrain

Nothing.. shit happens, and not everyone is entitled to compensation. I was never completely down, email was slow, I took advantage of it. I love RIM, they've had enough bashing. Asking this question on your home page only invites more of this behavior.

jwhelan

50$ rebate for my iPhone preorder ;)

DBX00

1) Let people touch or take home the QNX development phones.

2) One month free of BBM Music (if that's only US, then figure something out for the rest of the world)

3) Release your cloud management stuff ASAP and make it free for developing nations.

Gray

I don't expect anything. It would be nice if they posted blogs about how they're going to prevent such a failure in the future. Use it as an example to say "here's how we're going to prevent this and improve service if it happens again." At least customers will know they're doing something to prevent a big outage like this.

Rob Robertson

Trying to be realistic, I think it will be a small app store credit or maybe a free app from one of the dev's they purchased?

I imagine if they had BBM music up and running we would all get a free month.

dalus87

The QNX phones coupled with innovation.

RedDotNick

Just keep the service up and running :) RIM ROCKS!!!

xtremez

Free Blackberry T-shirts like the one Mike L was wearing with "RIMPIRE strikes back" on the back!

greyhd

Nothing really expecting anything in return. I do suggest RIM have a better strategy in having a second or third back up plan in case one of the switches were to fail again. RIM has taken it from all sides this year and this does not help, just glad service is back up.

doug1010

Don't need anything. I got thru "the great outage" fine by using my playbook bridge browser.

Ya something in AppWorld would be nifty. Discount or credit or something like that.

How about an app certifying "I SURVIVED the great outage of 2011!" :P

undone

Nothing needed, but an App world credit I think is a great PR move.

Deathcommand

BBM groups for PlayBook. Released NOW.

:)

DXBLouie

i'd love to finally have responsive customer support that would give me a DEFINITIVE answer on why some apps such as BlackBerry Protect suddenly became unavailable in the UAE

this honestly bugs the hell out of me
more info: http://tinyurl.com/3vobacu

bananagrams

What I would like is for RIM to have someone full time reading and dealing with the Crackberry community (or at the very least channeled through a CB member like Kevin) where we, the core and hardcore users can give them input on what we want to see in features, styles, updates, flaws, etc.

Also, this would serve as a forum where they can poll us as a form of market or upgrade research for their new ideas in the works.

19GhostRider71

How about giving out a $100 rebate on a Playbook purchase? That way you go to the retailer who has them already discounted $200 and you get another $100 off. That would definitely move some playbooks.

doug1010

Ya was thinking the same. And people wouldn't scream "OMG FIRE SALE!" :p

Neely2005

They actually just did something like this Last Month. If you go to www.blackberry.com and Click on Tablets the offer is still up in the Bottom Right corner.

jasonec

This isn't like buying a car. It is much easier and quicker to switch to other technology vendors if you have problems, which is why vendors of digital technologies have (and must continue) to offer something when their technology services have downtime. For example, if my home Internet access is down for 3 days, I'll phone the telephone company and they'll credit my bill for the time I was out of service (it is a monthly fee ;-).

Personally, I think that a credit to the App store would be best and easiest - similar to what Sony did with have free game downloads back during the Playstation network outages.

Punjabi007

Maybe some free Appstore credit and how about release of the OS 2 for Playbook :))

Mad-elph

From a marketing point of view I say they give everyone 1 free month of BB music sub. Some will be happy to get to explore new music etc. Others would get hooked and it'll open up a new revenue stream. Sony did that with PlayStation plus subs for 1 month when pan was down for a month and its a free service

kieln13

OS 2.0 for my playbook and im happy. just glad to have my bbm back!

dadymon

Poop happens! Just keep working on the updates for the play book!

ifarlow

I don't expect anything either, except the continued service and support of RIM. They owe none of us reparations as computers break and RIM was on it as quickly as we could expect anyone to start dealing with it. Sad thing is that if RIM did give something, such as an App World credit, then some people would complain that the credit wasn't big enough, or they should have given a credit to reduce the cost of a new device, or they should have paid everyone's cell phone bill for a month, or...

blackberry_juice

I agree with the sentiment that "stuff" happens and I'm glad it was just a day that I was out.

That being said:

1) Most important is a sincere commitment that steps will be taken to mitigate service outages in the future.

2) Small credit towards appworld would be nice or an extra month or two free on BBM Music when it is released.

3) Extra swag at Dev Con.

Mr-Chasteau

How about a free app from what comes out of DevCon next week. That would be nice :)

WillieLee

I expect nothing in compensation.

doug1010

Wow where are all the Trolls? o.o I'm surprised so far. Just gotta give em time i guess.

soul2k

A rebate on an os7 phone to giver users an incentive to continue using their services!

datta72

To be honest, I don't want or expect anything from them. I'm tired of people having their hands out for something whenever something like this happens. All I want from RIM is for them to continue moving in the right direction as far as handsets go and create more apps for the app world.

jamesp614

Get the Verizon NFL Mobile app working on our OS 6 Hybrids! LOL!
The fact that my LED is blinking again is payment enough.......

Nigelbrown

I work in IT, outages happen all the time, and thinking BB services are generally up and on 24/7, I just don't care if I missed emails through my phone for less then a day. I even called a few people I would normally bbm! I would take anything they are giving but simply do not expect it.

shebmiller

i dont expect anything. But it would be nice to see them launch BB movies snd give all their customers 1 free movie

oufc_gav

What is needed is for them to fire the useless co-CEO's and management of the company. Get some great leadership in and lead the company back from the brink.
That would work for me.

kemj

I don't expect anything, I am happy with just getting the service restored. :) Nonetheless (xD) I could think of three things for me from which they could decide: (1) OSv2 for my PlayBook on the day next to DevCon (2) App World credit, and finally (my favorite), (3) Sell unlocked Bold 9900s so I can buy one and use it on ATT!! -.-

mavsguy842

Like I said in the Conference Chat:

App World credit would be better than anything else for a number of reasons.

1) DevCon is coming up. If you're going to spend the money, why not route it to the people you need most in the long-term?
2) It would be more noticeable to the customer. $5 off next month's phone bill could go unnoticed; searching through App World for my free or discounted app certainly wouldn't.
3) Some people wouldn't spend it, reducing RIM's costs.

gregorylkelly

How about BlackBerry Walet for my 9930? I miss this app more than any other!!

HipPo13

Nothing from RIM but def from the media tho, take some of the spotlight off of RIM for a minute and talk about issues that some iusers where having yesterday after upgrading to ios5 and migrating to iCloud and just give RIM a break

maddie1128

Sure wish we had "like" buttons on this forum for great posts. Unlike buttons would be great too for the really stupid ones.
Anyway-really liked your suggestion Hippo13!

And I gotta say- I am proud of most of you on here- I was dreading reading the comments thinking- here we go....... but was really pleasantly surprised to see all those who don't expect anything and realize that stuff does happen! Good for you all!!!!!

phillechill

Credit in App World is a great idea!

babyblues197669

I would like to see a bold 9900 at at&t so i dont have to get an iphone. :D

jSkiLLzZz

playbook OS part deux.

Darlaten

The only compensation I would be happy with is the firing of the two CEO's and replace them with people who can actually manage and direct a company in the modern age.

Yvon Hawke

I'll gladly, graciously and gratuitously accept a complimentary Playbook. :D

Tõnis

I think reparations for this outage is ridiculous. I'm just glad RIM is still there, at 99% uptime, and thankful my choice in mobile phone technology isn't limited to the unsecure google platform and/or the dead guy's platform.

tinny24

i dont think we need anything..... im happy its up and running...if someone wants to send me a free bbm T-Shirt feel free i wont turn it down, i dont pay for blackberry services its free with my tariff so i have really lost anything...i actually enjoyed the quiet time lol

I swore I would never do drugs or become addicted to anything.... Thanks RIM for making me a liar, I can't put this bitch down lol

JazzL5

Reparations might be proper if your smartphone was the only communication device available but IT IS NOT. Blame yourself if you don't have an alternative available. People have multiple ways and devices for receiving and transmitting digital data. Get over it people. This was a minor disruption. No backup plan is foolproof!

pdl2mtl90

Don't really expect anything. Wasn't that big of a deal. The media made it sound like a HUGE deal. Like Apple and Droid are perfect 100% of the time.

seashell93

This is the first major outage that has effect me in the 4 years of owning a BB...thankfully all has been restored and hopefully it won't happen again!! I do agree with the masses that an App World credit would be a nice 'thank you for being patient and a faithful BB customer'! LOL

nv123

at&t bold 9900.

saudi_king

its at&t's fault the new bold isnt on their network. all the other networks carry it. switch to sprint and get yourself a 9930!

saudi_king

This outage made me realize how much RIM and BlackBerry means to me in life. I am very happy with my BlackBerry 7 Bold 9930, which I recently purchased after switching from ATT and upgrading my device(from the 9700).

RIM for life. Keep the updates coming. Woohoo!

Wretch 12

Orange UK is reinstating customers with £1 credit, despite the fact we only pay £5 a month for the service. I can't moan.

BoldMeister

A free 12-month subscription to BBM Music once it's live would be a nice gesture...

gemini9109

I'm just happy that everything is back to normal again, but a SERi0US talk w/Alltel about releasing the Bold 9930 immediately & a credit towards next months phone bill would be AWES0ME ! :)

SkaterGuy2k

I personally am just happy that they were open and honest with what the problem was and that they were able to restore service to everyone. But if they really want to give the customers something besides reliable service than I guess I could take a credit for app world, that just might make me even more pleased :D:D:D:D

Plus they wouldn't really be loosing any money, plus the developers would also reap the benefits for this so called "Disaster". lol

Again I'm happy to be bbming again :D thanks RIM for the amazing conference this morning, it really helped me understand the issues at hand.

BB4LYFE

Toasterg

Appworld credit would be nice, or a shiny, rim-designed theme :)

Neely2005

How about an upgrade coupon/voucher good to upgrade to a newer model BlackBerry? It could be a mail in rebate similar to the Back to School PlayBook program that ran last month.

That would be a win-win situation.

akrahn

It started out as not in RIM's control but they are working on it and should be resolved soon! However Apple releases new software and it crashes they're system there fault for not better control. Microsoft releases Mango and it goes better then expected. So somethings you plan for and it goes good or bad this is life we all need to look at the big picture it wasn't RIM's fault they had what should have worked in place then it didn't work saddly not what RIM wanted but it happened and the CEO's have even come out and address the world what they are working on to get us back up. I say keep up the work RIM you are doing what can be done with what you have and it will come back.

FAS-T

No reparation needed, no system is infallible.

BarracudaBob

I think some kind of credit on a new BB phone or tablet would possibly help with people who are considering leaving the platform. The best thing they can do is to make sure this doesn't happen again and start living up to delivery promises.

Kongchi

Force AT&T to release the Bold 9900

PRE7ORIANO

I AGREE!!!! Or the 9930!!! ;)

CzechShark

umm well a new 64GB playbook would be cool
but really even something as little as a credit in app world would be very costly to them,

Problem happened, problem solved rather quickly given the size of the issue.

What i think RIM should do instead of giving credit is perhaps release an anniversary official new Theme for all phones, or simply get ther dev rolling on giving as something as simple
as say... a New Theme Builder?

vectrac19

I don't expect anything. In terms of what they could offer, I can't see anything that would be affordable for RIM... In a way, I kind of feel sorry for them.
Anyway, keep things up and running and I'm still the loyal happy customer they had before.

Connor83

I got a $25 credit on my wireless bill. That's fair.

Ryanleelejeune

I agree with most people, nothing.. But RIM needs to keep up! They have fallen behind apple and android pretty bad lately, and instances like this don't help at all!!!

tprime

Problems happen. Just get it right in the future.Hopefully they will learn from this problem and make sure it doesnt happen again or find a least find a faster fix. Also i thinking being communicative to the customers is a good thing as well. But i dont think we are owed anything. As for the car analogy someone gave....it's not the same. Phone calls and sms were still working so it is not like your phone was totally unusable.

Baron395

Sometimes technology fails, get over it. I want or expect nothing.

DennisReumer

With an outage of 3 days for Business and Consumer, there is to be quite somethings we should demand from RIM to regain the trust.

They first need to give us a Plan of Approach on how to tackle the expose vulnerability of the infrastructure and followup with the execution of it and communicate this clearly to the public.

In the mean time it's quite certain businesses have been impacted and lost money due to the disconnect.
We have become depended on a proper service and there are already enough parts in the infrastructure chain that might cause a disconnect, but as the Prime supplier of the solution, it should never be their own core infrastructure. I don't expect failure proof systems and able to handle all errors, but I do expect those failures are properly handled and the right bulkheads are in place to mitigate a situation as has happened this time.

RIM needs to win the trust and show they are truly committed to improve.
reaching into their own pockets to provide use with some solace in the form of making some great Apps free for a period of time in App World (both for BB and PlayBook, paying for them themselves) isn't such a bad idea and works both ways. It stimulates the app market and allows users to connect to great applications and enjoy their platform more.

-- A running geek physicist aikido-ing his way to creating innovative simply mobile experiences. --

Have a great day !

Jonathank

Jonathan Kopycinski
MrKsBerry@Blogspot.com
app world credit

RPM_KW

How abut a BBQ at Jim's place?

But in all seriousness, I was down for 1 day. 1day/30 days= 3% of my monthly BIS fees (what ever they charge carriers) so probobly like $0.17 in credit. Or an extra patty on my burger at Jim's Place!

SmartzBerry

How about they bring flash to OS 7 and we call it even?

Ben1232

I want sharks with fr***in laser beams attached to their heads. I don't want anything from RIM.

These things happen. I am loyal to their fantastic brand. :)

stardomains

9790 available for purchase on RIM website for $349

araskin

That's easy. 12 months free subscription to BBM Music. That way everyone wins...

Steve Rizla

Well, what did Google do when they had their Gmail and Google apps outages?

Charlieo132

Seeing Mike give out a statement was all I needed. Being open and forth coming is all people ask for when there are issues.

If a network is up 99.9 % of the time, people blow it way out of porpotion when the 0.1% occurs.

mcaples

LET'S JUST NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!

cottonakin

Nothing Wanted or Needed.

dskate

they owe us nothing...just keep it running smooth... but one thing that would be extremely fair on both sides is just give us a firm date on when OS 2.0 will be out. They owe it to us early adopters who paid full retail when they came out day one...and all we ask is that they grow some b*lls and just come clean with a firm date so we have something to look forward to. Give us that and everyone will be happy and will completely forget this ever happened!

ksboldguy

I don't want anything, especially after having an android phone that needed to have a battery pull frequently to magically fix email issues. I love my BB 9930 (and my old 8330) should have never left BB! One day of issues is fine when it works great every other day of the year!

blue200316

Well I will be more than happy if the services gets up, but to make me more happy dont charge me for data on the 3 days when i could not use it.

jevalladares

Credit for 1 application in appworld, like Sony did.

fotyc

Agree - I don't think they need to necessarily give us anything. A $5 credit in AppWorld would be more than sufficient. But that's going to cost them a lot of money that really would be better spent fortifying their infrastructure - I'd prefer they do that in all honesty... $5 times 70 million subscribers is a lot of money that could be used in better ways. Product development... infrastructure support... OS upgrades...

m12k1177

don't know if this has been posted yet, but apple's OS5 release caused a LOT of problems for my friends. apparently their server crashed bc so many ppl were downloading it.

a few of my friends lost everything because they weren't able to backup their data before the update.

Neely2005

Funny how the media hasn't been all over that. Oh wait I forgot, Apple can do no wrong!

hamza817

Wasn't really expecting anything. $hit like this happens. However, if they are offering: App World credit sounds good...Gameloft games are awaiting on my PlayBook.

Shadowsong

The next time something like this happens again, RIM will @ least attempt to communicate more effectively with me about what is taking place. As a customer is that too much to ask for?

martinjdub

I'd like to see a deal for all BB users on the next BBX/QNX super phones. Say, a few bucks off?

Or six free months of BBM Music

The RIMPIRE

tekware

If I could get anything it would be to have them put UMA on my damned 9900! As a consolation, an App World credit would be a nice gesture. It would also encourage people to actually use App World. I am always amazed at the number of people with BlackBerries that have never even ventured into the App World. No Poynt, no weather, no Score, etc.. They don't know what they're missing.

kazn3r

Whether this is ever read or not will be for the masses to decide. RIM has done nothing but trying to improve its company in the past few months as it has been taking hits from the left and the right about its poor market share and its poor advancement over the "other" phones that are being released. RIM has tried hard. They try to offer what their loyal customers want. They do not think of what will sell best at what wireless provider, they think of what their loyal customers need. In my opinion, I think they have done nothing short of satisfaction.

Two years ago when I first got my Storm (the day it was released), I was the happiest man alive. After having 4 replacements (that is not a complaint, more a statement proving verizon stands behind their one year warranties =])just to get the screen to click right, I had realized that maybe RIM just had not thought that design through. I simply wanted a fix to a small problem. Verizon fixed it and RIM backed them. I switched to a Tour 9630 in February of 2010. While I loved the touchscreen, functionality, capability, and sheer technological advances that other phones had not had (at the time), I needed a keyboard again.

*sidenote, I have never thought about switching to an iPhone because I cannot take a full touchscreen.

Since I heard of the 9900 design, all I wanted was that 9900. It was everything I wanted--a keyboard, a touchscreen, WiFI (!), and a lot of onboard memory (which still confuses my brain). I am pleased to say that RIM has done nothing short of satisfying my every need. Although yesterday was a bit tough without BBM and email, I still was able to call and text, which is the most important function of a phone anyway, right? I have a portable computer, most call it a laptop, and that was very useful in reading emails. So with a 9930 and a MacBookPro, I was able to keep my business open and running.

To ask for anything from RIM would be a huge insult coming from my end. RIM has done nothing short of satisfying me. When Verizon has an "outage" or a faulty service interruption, I never expect anything from them. All I expect is for the problem to be solved.

masoud14

I say we get a $50 credit to the BB app world. Come on RIM...DO ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT...

CLCL

Make playbook $99 for all those affected by the outage.If HP can do that, they can do that, besides they have tons of them anyways. That would be a nice toy for a lot of ppl.

And they get to promote the qnx ecosystem and attract more developr right before devcon that way.

tazish

A QNX phone and BES to BETA wouldn't be bad. :)

chunt69

Stability at the forefront, another outtage like that and I'm gonna loose my fondness of blackberry.
When sony/ps3 went down all users where allowed a few normally paid for games to d/l for free. I would expect somthing similar, so a credit or a selection of normally paid for apps/games made available for free :-)

Houshinto

Seriously? Compensation? I'm satisfied if RIM makes sure this type of problem does not happen again. Why do people nowadays think that a "service failure: automatically qualifies them for compensation? What a bunch of self absorbed, silver-spooned, materialistic, leeches.

johnmarki

+_______ Insert # here.

STR8WESTCOAST

This is one of the reasons I left. How about giving the faithfuls a new 4gS. No outages here

Neely2005

Actually Apple had major crashes yesterday with the traffic from users trying to upgrade to iOS 5. Some people lost everything that was stored on their iPhones.

ericlc2

Release OS 2.0 for playbook this weekend, or a free iphone.

Consuela72

Nothing expected, outages happen :)

wetsqueegee

would love to just see RIM learn from mistakes. open communication, keep service up, and maybe a backup for the backup for the backup ;)

adrenaline_x

Free BBM music for 6 months or a year... That way everyone will get hooked and won't be able to give it up!

Litt3

They should now make an announcement that their backup system has a backup system, and that backup system has a backup system.

ahm911

Ideally I would know if the service goes down, maybe have a notification system with the phone providers to send a text saying BIS is down will be notified when service is restored? that way I am not frantically waiting for a magic email or a bbm to come through to realize it is restored.

and a credit in app world would be nice

BeccaLynn

I second, third and fourth this motion. The worst part was not knowing and the four battery pulls I did thinking it was my device. A quick all broadcast SMS would have been all I needed.

Other than that, no compensation needed. I would really like to hear what they are doing to move forward. I agree that blackberry's reliability has been excellent, which is why I was sure it was an issue with my device ;-)

Litt3

At least they communicated fairly well with us this last 48 hours.

tekware

Except if you just had your phone and no access to WiFi you had no idea what was going on. Just crickets...

Coach Bill

Add sync for Documents To Go 3.0 to desktop software!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RSJ1

A couple of hookers would be nice :) if not 2 days of free internet would do for both my Contract 9810 and my Pay as you go 9800

dadathepanda

I would like them to set aside a few dollars for each customer affected and invest those dollars in making sure the outage will not happen ever again. As for those who feel are entitled to compensation I say:
1. sh*t happens
2. while RIM should have made sure the back up systems are working in case of an emergency, see #1.

hardrewired

A BlackBerry black shirt will do me fine :)

Shikisha

I have had so many "RIM issues" in the past 6 months, that honestly, I'd just like them to say what happened, how they're going to minimize it, and how as a customer I am being compensated... make a fee adjustment, application credits, complimentary month of service etc... doesn't matter. I really just want to no longer be waking up wondering if my BB is working or not.

MousePad

I agree with the majority on this one... Nothing expected, nothing owed... RIM did what they could to get service back online. My BB is for my personal life, and missing about 24 hours of service (I'm in Canada) wasn't the end of the world. I still had my Playbook and my laptop to stay connected with my networks.

For those with small business that rely on BIS as a mission-critical component, this outage sucked big time, surely. But, I do think that small ou home business owners are generally very able persons who are accustomed to thinking on their feet. So they probably managed to get through this outage without much damage. But THEY would be the ones entitled to get something from RIM... We'll see how it goes.

I'm happy to see that RIM was much more open about the outage than from earlier instances. Refreshing. Some people still think that's not enough, and it probably is not. But the important thing I see here is that RIM is changing. Bodes well for the future, I think.

98hundred

Credit on app world would be so cool, cause I don't have a credit card so can't pay anything:( so credit would be so cool

wobbly

If they've finished the repairs to the system, they can finish the playbook and get some decent apps at a decent price

Skeevecr

They should take a leaf out of crackberry's book and reduce all prices on appworld by 10% over the weekend, but do it by reducing their cut of the fee so devs don't lose out.

The Consigliere

Kevin, why in God's name would you even bring this topic up?? Did you really just want to see how many people were going to b*tch & moan about I want this & I want that and RIM should give me this. I mean really, your PHONE still worked, you could still make CALLS! People need to relax, what do they owe you? They owe you a phone that works, hmm, seems like they fixed the problem so you got it, a phone that works, you're welcome. I don't know many companies who release videos basically saying "Our Bad, something happened & we're working to get it straightened out." I mean how many vehicles get recalled & no big-wigs step up & release a video talking to their buyers. I'm done, me, my 9700 & my 64GB Playbook are going to continue to wait patiently for OS2 to be released & then watch a bunch of people on here STILL complain that it's not enough because some people are never happy!

daveshiz

Not looking for anything but chuck us a new leak along with rumored new twiTter and badly needed new app world will be a very happy chappy !! Outage is acceptable 3 days outage is not on

johnmarki

RIM had an accident, they acknowledged this, and worked like crazy to fix it. They essentially could have said nothing, and took a helluva lot longer to sort this issue out, but they did the right thing and busted ass to make sure they took care of the situation. All of the people on here that were crying about switching are way to sensitive. I understand certain features were down and this caused inconvenience to people (myself included), but in the grand scheme of things RIM did something that it might have taken other companies/carriers weeks to correct. I appreciate the hard work they put in to resolve the issue and thats good enough for me. I think bringing up the topic of reparations may not be the best idea, but if its that necessary, then I would have to agree with the BlackBerry App World idea. It would "force" people to interact with App World, and get a boat load of apps into the market. Who knows, it might start a fire under App Worlds buttocks and it could turn out to be a great thing, not only for RIM, but developers, and consumers who want more apps. Just my 2 cents...

def1014

I don't expect anything from RIM on this outage. Stuff happens! I would just expect that they will take the necessary steps to avoid this from happening again.

I am a little sore about having payed the early adopter tax on the Playbook though. Can we get OS 2.0 and kep updates earlier or something? After all, that would not cost RIM anything and would make early adopters feel like that extra $200 bucks they shelled out got them something.

grberry

Credit in App World would be nice. I doubt RIM will want to give discounts to everyone for a New BB. Tho it would be nice, That way you upgrade all your users and sorta convince them to stay.

hdbulldog4

Just came back to BB from Droid and this happens. Glad to be back! It was actually kind of refreshing not getting my emails for awhile:)

newcollector

I don't want or expect anything. But it would be cool to get a T shirt (or the opportunity to buy one) like Mike L wore. On the back it would say, "I survived the outage of 10-12-11!"

misskalunji

The 2.0 update for Playbook! too much to ask?

invictusdigital

I would prefer that RIM take any budget that they would give to users and instead hire a totally new marketing agency and/or staff (especially PR) so they can stop getting bashed when bad things happen and start controlling what's being said in the marketplace. It seems like their PR staff is at least helpless at most clueless. For such a great product they really need to create more positive spin, ie marketing.

jstevens34

Better phones.....all I want........

csantoss

OS 2.0 for the Playbook... :-)

Now on a serious note, no reparations... just learn from this event so it does not happen again. Customer's trust is fragile and will only go so far...

medotaco

I alawys admired how apple had a powerful marketing..everytime a new model comes out..exisiting subsrcibers with rogers become eligible for a hardware upgrade( no early upgrade fees) even the custimer upgraded his iphone a year only before that..I complained to rogerts many time..esclated to the office of the president..nobody would budge..maybe it is time..even though it might not be related but it will be a little thank for your paitence to have a message broadcasted by the carriers to offer exisitng customers an upgrade with no early harware upgrade fees..given that rim can workout the numbers with the carriers

hakdaddy

Blackberry user since 2004 so would like at least 1 month Blackberry service compensated and BBM Music free for a month when launched. Beta testing BBM Music now and still a way from release. Some themes, wallpapers, avatars maybe an idea also for other give people something to choose from simular to Sony's response to PS3 hack

squidloe

Absolutely nothing. I've been a user since 2003 with my 2-way BB pager. As of tomorrow I will be an iPhone user. BB can't compare to the apps, performance, device stability, of the iPhone. Everyone in our sales org who has an iPhone is happy. Everyone with a BB is suffering and feels like we're in the stone age.

Good bye Rim, you won't be missed.

Neely2005

So stable that Apple crashed yesterday when people tried to update to iOS 5.

cknewdeal

I don't need anything, stuff happens, whatever... but I wouldn't say no to a coupon on a HUP, or some BB AppWorld Credit.

cranky_berry

I don't expect anything why would I. I support BB.
The reality this was the first major outage in years and the system uptime is better than 99.9%

scottdelisser

I think we should receive a 50% off promo code to use on Blackberry official accessorys direct from there online shopping store blackberry.com.

w0qj

I feel that RIM should give credit to BlackBerry users for future services, like App purchases, or credit towards the first QNX phone coming up...

Whilst (upset) BB customers gets compensated, this also drives things forward for RIM and the App ecosystem as well!

xandermac

All I want in the future is transparency and a page I can visit to check network stats, similar to the google apps dashboard page.

Aalejandro

App Store credit would be nice ...they don't owe us anything but we had no service for 3 days ... Sony had given us free game download for there PSN outage and it's a free service ... So it would be nice of RIM to do

jonno_atamaniuk

Difference there was that the PSN, while a free service, was HACKED, compromising literally MILLIONS of CREDIT CARD NUMBERS. That is why they gave the free games, they needed to get people to come back to using them knowing that their credit information had been stolen from those very servers not too long before.

juwaack68

The only thing I want from them is perhaps a public website where downtime can be easily posted and read by 'the masses'. Downtime could include outages like this one, routine maintenance (BIS 4.1??), or even carrier-specific outages. And I would say updates for outages should come at least every 4 hours.

Granted, I'm sure people who pay boatloads for the highest level of T-Support already have this, but for 'the little people' who also help keep this company afloat, I think it would go a loooong way towards keeping their business to know what's going on WHEN it's going on. I hate reading about outages on news sites and blogs.

red72

Nothing! The fact that I didn't get my emails right away while I was sitting at my desk, BBM might not have worked (only contact I have I personally spoke with yesterday), Berry Weather didn't work(thank God I was able to look out at the sky),and I couldn't check the deal of the day on App Store, and I couldn't browse. Thank ggodness life goes on.

elxavi

wouldn't it be great if this happen as a result of them turning up QNX on the BES and now they finally realized what was the problem integrating both of them. come next week they announce the new BBX with BES READY!!! for all your corporate user and have an awesome product for the non-enterprise consumer at the same time

slotime

I agree with most posters here . . .RIM doesn't owe me anything. It has been refreshing to finally see someone communicating with us on the issues. It would have been nice if they had spoken up a bit earlier, although many of these type of issues can't be fully identified as quick as we/they would like. NOW, if RIM would only be more forthcoming about the PlayBook and OSv2! HOW ABOUT IT RIM??

joKer_pb

OS 2.0 for Playbook, and push AT&T to release the BOLD ASAP... I think this should do it for me... for now xD

MaxxxBerry23

I would like to have OS7 for the 9800 :P

bbschorsch

Make them kick the marketing department and get the right people! They would know how to solve thinks like this.

First of all start to put bb/ bbm sticker and other promotion stuff to the phones!

I need a sticker to put on my macbookair!
And yes, make it big!!!

Different sizes would help - apple did this allready years ago.

shemaree09

Free subscription to BBM Music would be nice!!!

tedd_jr

I think it might be fair if they offered something akin to what the PlayStation network offered its customers when their services went down. I'm always game for anything free and it was a nice "sorry for the trouble" here is two free games. App World credit, future device credit, free case for my playbook, either/or that works for me.

Burning_Daylight

I for one am OUTRAGED. Just OUTRAGED that Blackberry could have let this happen. I am so outraged, in fact, I feel that to make it up to me, RIM should drop the prices of their handsets...um, so that I can buy one! Those dirty swine!

d1n_only

I don't think they need to do anything, just goes to show how much people rely on it in everyday life. Good for RIM, a little sad for us as humans in general LOL

But if they really feel sorry for it they can send me a brand new 9900 in any limited colour and a QNX prototype of any mobile phone device....I won't tell anyone I have it, honestly!

amradiar

Nothing! I just want the service to continue running :)

A credit towards a new phone would be awesome, but not requriement or expected!

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