RIM Offers Free Apps as Apology for Outages

BlackBerry users will soon be able to find out at no cost if there are $100 worth of apps that interest then.

By way of apology for a service collapse which left millions of BlackBerry users around the world without service for up to three days last week, the device’s maker, Research in Motion, said Monday it will offer a $100 credit for select apps in its online store.

Whether that will placate users, however, is unclear.

“RIM’s challenges are bigger picture,” said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “It would mainly be of interest to some people who see value in apps.”

One major problem for both RIM’s apology and the company’s general fortunes is the relative lack of appealing apps for the BlackBerry, particularly compared with Apple’s iPhone or phones that use Google’s Android operating system.

In its announcement, RIM only listed 12 apps that will be available at no cost, although it said that more will become available before the downloading period begins on Wednesday.

While the offer could conceivably prompt BlackBerry users who previously had not visited the BlackBerry App World to take a look, it might also remind them about the limited extent of the company’s software offerings.

Indeed, if users opt for the less expensive, professional version of DriveSafe.ly , which sells for $19.99, rather than the $79.99 “enterprise” version, and then buy all of the other apps on the list released on Monday, they will only have only spent $76. Even that seems unlikely as some of those apps perform similar functions.

The free downloads will be available until the end of the year.

Instead of free apps, RIM is offering corporate and government users technical support at no cost for one month.

The financial impact of the offer on RIM, which has failed to reach recent financial targets, is unclear. There are about 70 million BlackBerry users worldwide, both consumer and corporate. While RIM will have to reimburse the developers of the apps it gives away, Mr. Abramsky said that it was impossible at this point to estimate that cost. But he added that the app giveaway would likely be less expensive than other, more direct forms of compensation.

The service failure was the longest and most extensive in the company’s history, but not the first. In the past, RIM has not compensated the wireless carriers that sell its phones and provide them with service.

RIM was faulted last week online by customers as well as by public relations specialists for the lack of information it provided during the early period of the service shutdown.

The company’s co-chief executives did not make any public comments until the issue was resolved.

On Tuesday, however, Mike Lazaridis, one of the chief executives will address a meeting of BlackBerry software developers in San Francisco. High on the agenda will be convincing them not only to increase the number of apps available for current BlackBerrys but to persuade them to develop programs for a series of phones expected next year, which will use a new, more sophisticated operating system.

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