Blackberry users haven't been feeling much love these past couple of weeks.
The smartphone users just can't seem to catch a break.
For one thing, Research In Motion (RIM) - the company behind the Blackberry - doesn't generate the same kind of tech buzz as its main competitor Apple when a new product is launched.
I can comfortably wager that more people know the name of the latest iPhone model than the newest Blackberry product.
And since Apple founder, tech guru and geek god Steve Jobs passed away on Oct. 5, the Apple brand has dominated tech news and blogs with dedications, devotions and diatribes on Jobs and his contributions to the world.
The man who brought us iPods, iPhones, iPads, iTunes and more has certainly left big shoes to fill as well as the everlasting gratitude of the letter "I" for really putting it on the map.
Too many letters just lazily rely on guest appearances on Sesame Street to make it to the big time, in my opinion.
So, at a time when the passing of one of the biggest names in technology is dominating media everywhere, it would certainly take something big to pull attention away from all the Steve Jobs tributes and worship.
It would have to be something like oh let's say completely at random Blackberry suffering a global outage that lasts four days.
On Oct. 10, beginning in Europe and spreading to the rest of the world, that's just what happened as many "Crackberry" users found they couldn't get their fix of checking email and texting their contacts.
Did I mention that this happened right at the same time that Apple - for the first time without Jobs at the helm - launched its brand-spanking-new iPhone 4S model (whose name you already knew, as per our earlier wager so, pay up)?
I'd also be willing to bet there were a lot fewer smiles and a whole lot more sweating over at RIM headquarters last week as all this was going on.
Any takers? Double-or-nothing?
The irony is that the very thing that makes the Blackberry so attractive to the business crowd caused the outage.
You see, RIM has its own servers that act as a sort of middleman for users' email and BlackBerry text messages. They pick up messages from the wireless carriers and pass them on to the recipients. This process makes the messages more secure and difficult to intercept. It also makes the system susceptible to a big crash if something goes wrong.
The other smartphones out there - iPhones and Android phones - have no such middleman, so outages would be by specific carrier (Telus, etc.) and not global.
The Blackberry outage, unfortunately, affected millions of customers at a time when customer satisfaction was reportedly already at a low, as well.
For Blackberry users, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, although given how things have been going, it just may be a train.
After days of remaining silent, RIM finally announced it would offer about a dozen free apps worth $100 as payback for the disruption in service.
So all you Blackberry users who were prevented from getting your work done by the outage will get free games to further distract you from your already-late work.
Genius!
But the damage may already have been done, as Blackberry forums have been ablaze with frustrated devotees announcing their intention to switch to iPhone or Android phones.
So if you happen to see one of your friends clutching their Blackberry with a furrowed brow, try to show them some love maybe give them a hug, and try to use "I" in a non-threatening way - like, "i-hope-your-Blackberry-gets-better," or "i-still-think-Blackberry-is-a-good-product."
I bet it won't help, though.
