Blackberry -- The Comeback

I guess, October 11 will be considered the 'Death of Blackberry Messaging or commonly known as BBM' or maybe not. 

A lot of people were worried about what will happen after October 11. Some had to vent their anger and post frustrated statuses on their Facebook and Twitter, the popular social networking sites to date. 

According to Yahoo's Maktoob Business, UAE ambassadors had a positive meeting with Research in Motion (RIM) team. 

Maktoob Business

Prior to this news, the team has allowed Saudi Arabia to monitor the activity of BBM users in the country. 

I guess with a further meeting to take place, RIM team and UAE's ambassadors will come up with the best solution on how to tackle this problem. Being the Gulf's largest mobile phone user, I am sure that RIM team and Blackberry will not allow to lose this country on their top-ranking users. 

This is a relief that we, as humans, still have a right to dictate when we think technology is dominating our lives. A few years back, no one was THAT glued to the internet to check daily feeds about their friend's whereabouts or feed their virtual pets or playing video games for that matter.

 

Blackberry being suspended due to security threat

It caused a lot of boos in the mobile world - most especially to those people who are so attached to their Blackberry phones that the UAE is officially banning the BBM or Blackberry Messenger from operating in the UAE. 

After the declaration, a few countries followed the lead - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and India to name a few. 

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In our office, we do have a few BBM fanatics and were sad. They have used BBM to keep in touch with friends who are also users of the ever-popular Blackberry phones. As I am now part of the tech department in our office, speculations were made about why they are banning the service. 

Mentions of national security being threatened, BB users exchanging information that could and potentially harm a country (hence the national security threat), a person (not being able to follow a lead in case a murder / rape was planned via BBM) or culture (the Y generation having more freedom in expressing their thoughts without their relatives having a chance to intervene). 

Though the national security part is the most important issue at the moment because the only keeper of the BBM encryption can be found in the United States. 

I think control is important in order for each one of us to function accordingly. Let's use our companies as an example. In our companies, we have a set of rules and regulations to follow.We need to have these set of rules so that people are aware of the boundaries. Not doing this at all will cause chaos. 

This is also one of the main reasons we have rulers / presidents in each of our countries where they implement laws and decrees for people to follow. 

I guess this goes the same with BB phones. 

I believe that this will be resolved soon - depending on how the BB manufacturers will cooperate with the country's demands.  

For now, we can only wait and see. 

*Image courtesy of Yahoo! Maktoob Business (clicking on the link can also give you a history of news regarding the BBB (Blackberry Ban)