Technology : BlackBerry reports improvements in service

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 13, 2011 -- Updated 0851 GMT (1651 HKT)

RIM apologizes for BlackBerry outage

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Service is improving, Research in Motion says
• Maker: Cause was "extremely critical issue" on BlackBerry network
• Company says it is working "around the clock" on a fix
• Customers say the outage has disrupted business and personal lives

(CNN) -- BlackBerry said it was making progress Thursday as a network outage entered its fourth day, testing the nerves of users who rely on the smartphones for businesses and social uses.

"Today, all services across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as India, have been operating with significant improvement," BlackBerry said in a service update on its British web page. "We continue to monitor the situation 24x7 to ensure ongoing stability. Thank you for your patience."

"Service levels are also progressing well in the U.S., Canada and Latin America," the main Research in Motion website said. Research in Motion is the maker of BlackBerry.

Late Wednesday, RIM CIO Robin Bienfait posted a "service update" on the company's website saying email systems "are operating" in all regions.

"We are doing everything in our power to restore regular service everywhere and to restore your trust in us," Bienfait wrote. "You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down."

BlackBerry outage spreads

Millions of BlackBerry users lose service

An "extremely critical issue" on the BlackBerry network caused the outage, Stephen Bates, RIM's managing director in the U.K., told CNN's Richard Quest. He added: "We're putting all of our focus with all of our engineers and all of our network specialists on trying to understand the nature of why this backup system didn't work as it should have ..."

"The timing couldn't be worse," research firm Trefis wrote in a note to subscribers, citing increased competition from Google's Android phones and Apple's iPhone, whose new 4S iteration goes on sale Friday.

The BlackBerry service outage started on Monday in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. By Tuesday, it spread to South America. That night, RIM assured customers that the glitch had been identified and was "now being resolved" -- but on Wednesday it got worse as customers in the United States and Canada were hit. The outage appears to affect text messaging and Internet access, not necessarily voice calling.

No customer emails have been completely lost, and they will be delivered eventually, RIM said Wednesday.

There are about 70 million BlackBerry users worldwide. RIM has not commented on how many users are affected, but reports suggest the number of users without some sort of service has climbed into the millions.

This is not the first time RIM has faced a major service outage.

"I have been an analyst for 25 years and have watched RIM wrestle with this same outage problem time after time. Every few years we get pinched by yet another major problem," tech analyst Jeff Kagan said in a statement.

This outage, however, comes at a particularly bad time for RIM, since it faces increasing competition in the smartphone market, Kagan says.

Apple's iPhone and phones on the Google Android operating system have been gaining ground, and the new iPhone 4S goes on sale Friday.