RIM undecided on telecoms compensation

Research in Motion (RIM) has yet to decide if it will compensate telecoms carriers for a network outage that left tens of millions of BlackBerry users without mobile email and messaging, its Middle East managing director said on Thursday. "That is a discussion that is ongoing," said Sandeep Saihgal, when asked if the company would compensate telecoms operators. "Our prime focus has been on consumers."
On Monday, RIM promised to give $100 of free apps to every BlackBerry smartphone user to compensate for four days of disruption last week, while some Gulf operators gave customers free BlackBerry access for a limied period. RIM has steadily lost global market share to Apple's iPhone and its shares are down about 60 percent in 2011, but Saihgal was bullish about his firm's Middle East prospects.
"We have grown 140 percent year-on-year in this region .. I think this pace will not slow down," he said. According to what RIM said was independent research, BlackBerry sales in Saudi Arabia rose 225 percent in the 12 months to August, 63 percent in the United Arab Emirates and 56 percent in Kuwait.
This growth comes despite stagnating mobile subscriber growth in the Gulf, which has some of the highest penetration rates globally, as consumers upgrade to smart phones. "People probably have a couple of phones and they are also early adopters of technology and like to change their handsets every six to nine months," said Saihgal.
BlackBerry has a 51 percent share of the UAE smartphone market, according to a report by Jordan-based Arab Advisors Group published on Wednesday, with the Canadian firm also number one in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The latter's conservative rules restrict mixing of the sexes, spurring demand for alternative ways to communicate, with Saudi Arabia RIM's second-largest market in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Saihgal said, behind only Britain.
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is a big draw for the Gulf's large expat population because it offers a cheaper way to communicate with home than conventional texting. Alternative services like What's App may dim BBM's appeal, but at present 96 percent of BlackBerry users in UAE also have BBM, while in Saudi Arabia it is 99 percent, Saihgal added. In 2010, RIM reached a deal with the UAE over its encrypted email and messaging services, which the government wanted to monitor, but Saihgal would not comment on whether BlackBery had now sited servers in the UAE. "We make sure we comply with all the regulations," he added.