RIM outage woes continue, but customers give cause for optimism

RIM is having a tough year. Staff have been let go, profits have fallen, the PlayBook has been a disappointment, its Messenger service was used to co-ordinate riots and now its network has fallen over for three days straight.

The firm's BlackBerry Innovation Forum event in London on Wednesday could hardly have taken place at a worse time for RIM, and UK managing director Stephen Bates was forced to begin his presentation with a lengthy apology to a room full of no-doubt disgruntled customers.

However, on another level at least, it gave the beleaguered company the chance to clear the air and get existing customers to talk up the firm while it is busy fighting fires in other areas.

Inspector Jayne Forrest from South Yorkshire Police explained that the force has started using BlackBerry devices to get officers to engage with citizens by using social media.

"We first started thinking about how we could use our devices at the start of the year when we were planning our policing response for the Liberal Democrats conference in March," she told V3.

"By using the device to engage with those that were planning to protest against the event, we were able to gather information, provide reassurance and engage with those in attendance so there was no risk of any 'surprise policing'."

Forrest also said that the benefits of social media platforms like Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger outweigh the risks during times of civil unrest, and that the force's engagement on Twitter had helped quell any potential riots.