Blackberry Ban in UAE and Saudi Arabia Continues Applies to Tourists

After the news came out that the United Arab Emirates was to ban Blackberry use in the country some may have wondered whether this would affect visitors and tourists or just nationals. Well wonder no more, the ban will indeed apply to everyone, tourists included. To be specific the ban focuses on Blackberry data services, not calls, so you should still be able to use voice calls, but of course the whole point of a Blackberry is email and other data services. It's an odd move for a country that depends so much on international commerce and with business travellers jetting in and out it won't be long before the ban starts to grate on those travellers. Of course a deal might be reached at some point, but until/unless it does it looks like you won't be checking your email in the UAE. 

Nielsen have released their numbers for the American mobile market and the picture isn't looking too rosy for RIM, maker of the popular Blackberry series of smartphones. RIM commands around 23% of smartphone sales to new smartphone customers according to RIM, but crucially it's customer loyalty that has taken a very hard hit over in RIM's camp. Some 42% of Blackberry owners say they plan on renewing their handset with another Blackberry. To give that figure some context the corresponding figure for Android users is 71% and for the iPhone it's a very safe 89%. So where are all those Blackberry deserters going? Well 29% say they will opt for an iPhone and 21% say they will plump for Android. Looking at those abandoning Android and the iPhone only 3% and 2% respectively say they will choose a Blackberry. If RIM doesn't want to see its market share drain away fast they'd better hope Blackberry OS6 and the spate of new handsets running it reverse the rot.