Perhaps they're preparing for the transition to QNX development and reducing the BBOS support?

Well, on the phone side it was outdated anyway because they only had certification for OS 5 and that was probably due to RIM wanting the keep the BES version numbers synced with the BBOS version numbers. I was planning on updating my cert from OS4, but I kept putting it off because I figured OS 6 or higher would be offered soon.

Layoffs = must concentrate remaining resources on highest priority tasks.

This one boggles me. How are administrators going to certify that they are capable of managing BES? And more importantly, will RIM reiburce me for time and money spend on the exam I'm suppose to be writing on monday? ;-p

That is one way to be sure it came from Research in Motion/BlackBerry's domain name (blackberry.com) rather than some spoofed website or domain name. That is what I check when I receive a suspicious looking message that supposedly gets past my spam filters. That way, I know it's authentic or fake. Thoughts?

EDIT: The blackberry website still shows all of the courses and such, nothing is missing, no announcements whatsoever on any of the links saying it's been suspended at all. So it's either a well-crafted hoax e-mail, or it's real. Please update us if it's a fake or for real. WE NEED E-MAIL HEADERS, FULL HEADERS!!!

We are a alliance partner and also received the email. Sent a email off to training@blackberry.com, and got the following back: "Thank you for your email. We will respond to your query as soon as possible. Please be advised that the BlackBerry Certification Program has been suspended indefinitely. More information will be available soon on our website."

What I would like to know is, is it ok for me to continue using the Logos is my email signature. I have the full suite of certs. Literally all of them, it was one of my big selling points when I took my current job and allowed me to get extra money from my employer.

RIM(blackberry's twitter acct got hacked, so, who knows what else is true. I also believe that since blackberry is going to the QNX platform in the future, that's the reason. I hope you can get your money back for your cert.

What does it mean for us who are already certified? Are they just going to say they expire at a certain date?

By the part "No longer required to complete" tells me that RIM just wants less hurdles between dev and product. There are so few app developers for RIM products as it is. Perhaps they will lauch something else soon.

had a chat to our alliance manager. And apparently they knew this was coming ages ago. The entire certification program is now null and void. No word on something replacing it or a revised launch, just gone.

Stick a fork in 'em. Blackberry is done. They did this without warning, and now I'm sitting in a class that ends up being a waste of time. RIM has made all the wrong decisions at all the wrong times. We can only hope someone like Microsoft buys them up