Recent research shows that around 50% of internet users in the UK access the web through mobile devices such as their smartphones. So what would happen if a major smartphone manufacturer cut off the majority of their customers from the internet for 36 hours?
Unfortunately for Blackberry users, manufacturers Research In Motion are about to find out…
Blackberry users in Europe, The Middle East, South America and Africa have spent the last day-and-a-half unable to access their emails, the web, or the flagship Blackberry Messenger (BBM) service. And predictably, they’re not happy about it – with a massive Twitter backlash currently in progress.
An email sent to Blackberry clients suggest that the issue was caused by a catastrophic failure in core systems, compounded by a failure of the backup system – and that there’s a huge backlog to work through:
“RIM update: The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed.”
Blackberry now have to process backed-up emails, Tweets and messages from four separate continents, so they’re probably hoping that there’s nothing on the horizon to tempt their dissatisfied customers away.
In unrelated news, the new Apple iPhone 4S is released this week.
Not a good time to be a RIM investor, but a great time to consider a mobile-friendly website?
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