Opps .. my Blackberry is a Crackberry in Dubai

This is interesting, some countries are getting pissed off that they can't break Blackberry data encryption. The UAE has recently announced that it would ditch Blackberry services other than normal phone calls unless the company, RIM, being more open with the encryption the device's data transmission encryption to give the government ability to access the content. There seem to be a suggestion from some analysts that the reason for such threat is a result of impression that RIM has been more open to some countries such as US but not others. Thus, they demand the same level of playing field. Hearing this, India has also decided to follow suit, likewise Saudi Arabia .. and today, a colleague told me he'd read somewhere that Indonesia will also like join the club. Irregardless of the reason behind it, and whether rumours about RIM being double standard toward some countries are true, the threat that now attracts other participants needs to be looked at very seriously by RIM. UAE being the a large transit hub for air travellers, and India and Indonesia with their huge population could bring quite serious implication to RIM's sales. Or will it?

Well, transits in Dubai usually take only around 3 hours, and those longer are usually in small numbers. Users could live without Blackberry services for the few hours - it won't bring any business to a halt. Those who will need to be in Dubai for longer duration could always boot up their notebook and shoot out emails. So, it will not be the end of the world. For India, Saudi Arabia and China, well ... they will just let it be. Users / corporations will start moving to different gadgets. At the end of the day, RIM will be the sole loser. Thus, it needs to be really cautious about this, and start talking to the UAE's communication authority.