Yet Another RIM Outage

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091217/CGY_black_berry__091217/20091217?hub=CalgaryHome&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=CTVcalgary.ca' target='_blank'>http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...n=CTVcalgary.ca</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"BlackBerry users in North America are experiencing email outages after an unspecified problem from maker Research in Motion. Service has been down from some customers since about 3:15 a.m. Thursday."</em></p><p>Tell me again why people place so much trust in a device that's tied to a service that goes down at least once a year? The centralized "One Server Cluster to Rule Them All" approach to email is the most idiotic approach to delivering email I've ever heard of. What baffles me the most though is that customer pressures over repeated failures haven't forced RIM to deploy an alternate approach to delivering email. How much failure are you going to take RIM customers?</p>

[Ed Hansberry]

Totally absurd. I don't understand why so many people are comfortable letting RIM get inbetween their device and email server.

[soho_1]

10.1 million units sold in quarter ended November (i.e. excluding December) a new record. Margins held up, prices held up, earnings up 59% y/y, stock up 12% on the news. Subs now up to 36 million. Cumulative units sold: 75 million.

In separate news, a ComScore survey shows that in the US RIM's installed base is nearly 15 million vs. 7.1 million for Windows Mobile. In the previous 9 months RIM increased its user base by 4.3 million users while Windows Mobile increased its base by 300 thousand.

http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/pages/what-were-top-smartphone-operating-systems-october-numbers

The answer to your question goes beyond e-mail server uptime. With 80% of new users being consumers, the server architecture is not what's relevant.

[Fritzly]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091217/CGY_black_berry__091217/20091217?hub=CalgaryHome&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=CTVcalgary.ca' target='_blank'>http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...n=CTVcalgary.ca</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Tell me again why people place so much trust in a device that's tied to a service that goes down at least once a year?</p>

I have no idea; I cannot stand RIM and Blackberry; phones are ugly, the keyboard is too small, you are not in control of your email (we use Exchange and either WM or Apple handsets.) .
Said that they are the most succesfull ones..... better than WM, well not very hard nowadays, better than iPhone and Android, at least for the time being.
Also it is worth to note that this is mostly an US phenomenon: in Europe RIM is not so popular.... still too much if you ask me though.

[martin_ayton]

I guess it depends on your perspective: My IT Director regards these outages as blessed gifts from above - wonderful windows of time where he can get some work done and get his life back without always being at the mercy of the instant-response-required email. Too many outages in any given period would be very bad, but perhaps RIM have realised that one every 18 months or so could be something of a Unique Selling Point? :)

[mpaquette]

Just wanted to point out that these outages typically only affect users that don't utilize a Blackberry Enterprise Server. I support one as part of my job and our Blackberry's only go down if that server goes down.

[Janak Parekh]

Just wanted to point out that these outages typically only affect users that don't utilize a Blackberry Enterprise Server. I support one as part of my job and our Blackberry's only go down if that server goes down. I'm not so sure that's true. I've seen outages in previous years that affected BES servers. BES talks to RIM's servers, which then talks to Blackberries.

I will say that RIM's server-based architecture does have its advantages; first and foremost is battery life -- RIM's special protocol lets Blackberries conserve energy more efficiently than other protocols. In my experience, Blackberries have much better battery life under heavy email loads than other platforms.

In any case, soho_1 is right. Once-a-year server failures have not hurt RIM very much. Obviously, other aspects of the product outweigh it.

--janak

[Darius Wey]

Too many outages in any given period would be very bad...

Another outage tonight (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357516,00.asp). I guess that makes it very bad. Somewhat comical, too. :P

[Ed Hansberry]

Happened again - http://crackberry.com/blackberry-messenger-fritz but this time BIS and BES was affected.