BlackBerry disruption over, but took toll

NEW YORK – BlackBerrys across the world buzzed back to life Thursday, leaving customers outraged and threatening to cost the granddaddy of all smartphones more business when it’s already struggling to keep up in a crowded marketplace.

The three-day blackout interrupted email and Internet services for tens of millions of frustrated users and inflicted more damage on an already tarnished brand.

“I’ve been a pretty big BlackBerry advocate,” said Kate Jacobson, a student at Michigan State University. “But I’m done playing these games with you, BlackBerry.” After using a BlackBerry for three years, she got an iPhone Thursday.

Her unhappiness was shared by users across several continents. BlackBerrys in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa had been without email or chat messages since Monday.

In the U.S. and Canada, the outage was shorter, starting Wednesday. But many, perhaps most, of the world’s 70 million BlackBerry users were affected.

Research In Motion Ltd., which makes the phones and handles email traffic to them, said the system was steadily processing a vast backlog of stalled messages.

The company’s two CEOs apologized profusely. It was a break from the past, when outages merited only terse statements from the company.

Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie said they had not made plans yet to compensate customers but are turning their attention to that question.

BlackBerry phones have not kept pace with the iPhone and its imitators, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee.

A recently launched update of the flagship “Bold” model with the signature BlackBerry keyboard is selling well, he said, but an all-touchscreen model isn’t.

“If someone really wanted a full touchscreen experience, why would they buy that? You have much better alternatives out there,” Wu said.