This sums it all Thats what you get to operate in India and how they have come from their “strong stance” They have now agreed to allow access to to their Blackberry servers.

“They have in principle agreed to provide us recorded data from their servers,” it quoted an interior ministry official as saying.Now they have assured us that they will discuss the issue first among themselves and find a way to meet our demands. Later, they would be providing live access to BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server),”

I apologize for this rather crude portrayal but this best sums up what Blackberry’s “executives” were crowing about earlier. I have covered this issue extensively earlier here and here.

Update: This has been reported on Fast Company too.

I quote a section of it verbatim:

There is no doubt that RIM will get stick for this decision–after all, being seen to be cavalier with one’s customer data is just not cricket. However, they are in an inenviable situation. India is an important market for RIM, which is on course for sales of around 600,000 units by the end of 2010–that’s 5% of the country’s smartphone market.

This is the reason why Blackberry is “bending down”. I don’t remain a fan of their handsets because I find them useless in terms of customization or use. In any case, for the technically oriented, I prefer to use IMAP_IDLE protocol which shifts the mail almost instantaneously to my synced devices. Which also means that the main reason for having a Blackberry vanishes because it was their “mail offering” which made all the difference. With the servers now “live” and push email being replaced by the “protocol”, I find no reason why should anyone pay a premium for that product.

This also explains the slew of advertisements all across the television for their product.

Update 2: RIM denies any involvement with the Indian Government. This is because it would otherwise hurt their share market in other parts of the world. Not knowing fully well that they allow full access to middle east countries where they were rapped on their knuckles and their testicles held till they turned blue.

That’s what is called as “foot in the mouth”!

Here’s what they have to crow about: (emphasis mine)

RIM has once again found it necessary to address certain media reports in India containing inaccurate and misleading statements and information based on unsubstantiated claims from unnamed sources….Our customers can be reassured that the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution continues to be the gold standard for security-conscious organizations in India and worldwide. All our discussions with the Government of India have been and continue to be productive and fully consistent with the four core principles we follow in addressing lawful access matters around the world. Any suggestion to the contrary is false

This is classic corporate gibberish. Which in effect should be interpreted as:

The Indian Government screwed our happiness and threatened us with a ban. Keeping in mind your sensibilities and our pathetic market share, we were afraid that this would affect our future sales and possibly carefully crafted brand image. When we were summoned to the offices, we were shitting in our pants and pissing all over while the Indians screwed us from behind and twisted our little puny testicles. We agreed immediately to all of their demands including complete access to our servers, offices, files, records and gave each one of them our crappy product for “testing purposes”. Because we need to lick the Indian’s asses since they feed our kids (and mistresses) therefore we have allowed full access to your corporate emails and communication including details of YOUR mistresses

Apologies but it drives me mad…

Blackberry India should be the front line nominee for this year’s ASSHOLE OF THE YEAR AWARD

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This is a follow up post to the earlier write up.

Whilst it’s difficult to update it on a regular basis, you can follow up on the news. Interestingly, there has been an editorial about the same in Business Standard and this has been followed up with my letter to editor today. Basically I have recapitulated the contents of the blog mentioned yesterday which is repetition but minus any comments on RIM and it’s crapware. The letter has been reproduced here in it’s entirety.

Dear Sir,

I am surprised that there is an opposition to ban on Blackberry. The only gaffe in the entire episode and consequent drama is because this issue has been made public and received widespread publicity which is not warranted.

Agreed that privacy is important for an individual but the moment one connects to the grid, a person can easily be identifiable. The web browsers routinely collect cookies from sites which tracks user behavior and those systems which are infected with trojans or viruses reveal more incriminating details. Worse still. A brand new activated number is leaked out by telecom companies to various telemarketers for unsolicited calls despite Do Not Call lists and registration and SMS spam has assumed alarming proportions. Why the editorials can’t raise that issue as a matter of concern? Whither privacy?

Most of the countries where RIM operates has an explicit understanding that whatever data flows through Blackberries would be available for scrutiny. National security is paramount and if that is the overriding concern for “snooping on public”, so be it. Cellular calls can easily be tracked with equipment available off the shelf and indeed it was the cover story on an English weekly few weeks back. Similarly, a vital telecom infrastructure should be available for scrutiny because of immediate concerns of remote monitoring by foreign powers and the ability to remotely switch it off during national emergencies. We ought to have full control over whatever equipment is installed including the proprietary source codes. It is up to equipment manufacturer to do business with this country based on their needs. If they feel that our demands are too rigorous, they are welcome not to step in this country.

We live in supercharged times where such naiveté is rewarded by loss of life and property. Post Sept 11 attacks, US has passed Patriot Act which gives them unprecedented access to call logs and the like. I would be surprised if RIM or Blackberries are not monitored in US or even Canada where RIM is in active denial mode to the contrary.

I cam across these write ups in media (1, 2, 3) which says that Blackberrys are a security threat. If so, they should be shut down with immediate effect. They are playtools for spoilt and the rich and frankly, has no adherents among the mass of mobile users. Overpriced and useless phones, the government’s decision would affect only a miniscule minority of corporate “honchos”. Up theirs!