BlackBerry offers free apps as blackout compensation

Research In Motion has announced that it will offer BlackBerry customers affected by last week's global service blackout a batch of premium apps worth $100 (£63) as compensation.

RIM said in a statement that the selection of apps is being "offered free of charge to subscribers as an expression of appreciation for their patience" during the three days of disruption to email, internet and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) last week.

The apps will be made available to customers over the coming weeks via BlackBerry App World, running until December 31, 2011.

RIM has not yet confirmed the complete selection of apps, but they will include games such as SIMS 3 and Bejeweled, along with software including Photo Editor Ultimate and iSpeech Translator Pro.

However, RIM said that the availability of certain apps will depend on the device and operating system of each individual customer.

"Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers," said RIM co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis.

"We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We've worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we're committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future."

The selection of free premium apps announced so far includes:

• SIMS 3 - Electronic Arts
• Bejeweled - Electronic Arts
• N.O.V.A. - Gameloft
• Texas Hold'em Poker 2 - Gameloft
• Bubble Bash 2 - Gameloft
• Photo Editor Ultimate - Ice Cold Apps
• DriveSafe.ly Pro - iSpeech.org
• iSpeech Translator Pro - iSpeech.org
• Drive Safe.ly Enterprise - iSpeech.org
• Nobex Radio™ Premium - Nobex
• Shazam Encore - Shazam
• Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant - Vlingo

Business customers affected by the outage, which started in Europe, the Middle East and Africa but spread to Latin America, Canada and the United States, will be offered one month of free technical support as compensation.

"We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience," added Lazaridis.

"We have apologised to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again."