TRA’s decision to suspend Blackberry Services across the country through two local ISPs, Etisalat and Du, have become the talk of the town. I have personally received more than 15 calls from my friends to confirm the news and discuss any alternatives. Well, the news was striking for myself too when one on my close buddies Noaman Sayed informed me the same initially.
The ISPs have even taken an initiative to send SMS messages to their Blackberry clients of the upcoming suspension of the service and that an alternative solution will be provided soon.
One point I cannot understand is , what alternatives could be possible keeping the same device and service. Any e-mail account which needs to be added needs the respective service book. If the main reason for TRA to declare the suspension is for not being able to monitor chat logs and email communication then the whole device becomes useless and the service pointless.
Recently Chinese seem to have put enough pressure on parent company Research in Motion that a monitoring service is in the phase. Soon India is demanding one and very soon UAE wants one. RIM uses a very sophisticated encryption algorithm which limits the telecom operators to crack and read open the communication raising national security concerns.
All of this is pressure to RIM especially since their market share has dropped from 55% to 41% in Q1 2010. iPhone is definitely picking up and with providers giving full support for both on their networks gives RIM another thought to think about.
The month of August is going to be crazy here in Dubai and other Emirates to determine any feasible solutions. Throwing blackberries and getting iPhones could mean some more number crunching work for the business professionals and deploying Blackberry-alternative solutions for IT pros could mean more sleepless nights.
