BlackBerry BIS Outage Stretching into US, Canada, & Asia

We have received multiple confirmations from different sources that the BlackBerry outage that started two days ago in the EMEA region in spreading a bit. According to one source twenty five percent of users in the US and Latin America are experiencing issues. Reuters is reporting that RIM confirmed to some clients that it is having issues in both the US and Canada. There are also reports of sporadic issues in the Asia Pacific region though I have not managed to pin them down.

The issues in the US and Canada seem to be surrounding BIS, BBM, BIS-B, and push services though for now it just seems to be causing sporadic delays. Let us know if you are experiencing anything in the comments.

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RIM Posts Global BlackBerry Service Update Page – Confirms Issues in the Americas

RIM’s @BlackBerryHelp account posted a link to a “BlackBerry Service Update” page on their RIM.com website with updates on the current BlackBerry Outage. This is on top of the UK BlackBerry Service Update page. The latest update just went up an hour ago confirming intermittent issues for “Subscribers in the Americas.” They are obviously working to fix the issues ASAP as a priority one job. Here is what they have to say so far:

Wednesday 12th October – 9:45 (GMT-5)
BlackBerry subscribers in the Americas may be experiencing intermittent service delays this morning. We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience. We will provide a further update as soon as more information is available.

Wednesday 12th October – 12:00 (GMT+1)
We know that many of you are still experiencing service problems. The resolution of this service issue is our Number One priority right now and we are working night and day to restore all BlackBerry services to normal levels. We will continue to keep this page updated.

Tuesday 11th October – 21:30 (GMT+1)
The messaging and browsing delays that some of you are still experiencing were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to many of you and we will continue to keep you informed.

Tuesday 11th October – 16:00 (GMT+1)
Some of you are experiencing messaging and browsing delays. We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Monday 10th October – 20:46 (GMT+1)
Our sincere apologies to all of you affected by today’s BlackBerry service issues.

Monday 10th October – 15:00 (GMT+1)
We are currently working to resolve an issue impacting some of our BlackBerry customers in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. In the meantime, we apologise to you for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

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Staples Offering $100 Off BlackBerry PlayBook Coupon in US Stores

We told you about the Amazon price discounts yesterday but Staples made things a bit more interesting this week. They are offering up $100 off many of their tablets including the BlackBerry PlayBook until July 30th. The coupon only works in stores and is limited to US Staples stores but it still is a great deal. If you are planning on picking up a PlayBook now is the time since this gives you $100 off all the models. Kudos to the CrackBerry team for spotting this one. You can print the coupon from this link and take it in to stores to redeem. Let us know if you use it!

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