[moh950]

I found following article in Mebiledia and it looks good:

Quake Didn't Shake Up BlackBerry Messaging Service

BlackBerry users on Tuesday had no problems sending messages after the Virginia earthquake even though cell phone service jammed on the East Coast, suggesting the Research In Motion devices may still
prove valuable to people concerned about communicating in emergency situations.


The RIM devices depend on the company's servers for e-mail and messaging services, instead of relying on wireless networks. As a result, RIM's service operated normally all day, said Marisa Conway, a
spokeswoman for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.

However, people using smartphones on Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint all had problems, even though the companies said they had no network damages. Rather, the wireless companies reported high call
volume as the reason for the jams, since people were calling after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake, felt in most major cities along the East Coast, including Boston, Washington D.C. and New York.

CITA, the wireless trade industry association, Tuesday urged people to send text messages and emails to contact loved ones, rather than call each other on networks that were experiencing
higher-than-normal traffic. Despite many advances in cellular technology, massive bursts of traffic can still clog up networks because cellular towers are only able to handle so much traffic,
according to CITA.

But BlackBerry prevailed, which may be considered a win for the struggling company. BlackBerry, once the country's top smartphone, has lost ground in recent times to Android and Apple iOS devices,
which became favored for their apps and increased functionality.

However, the BlackBerry has remained popular in the corporate and political worlds because RIM ensures clients' communications are kept secure.

"RIM certainly has a reputation for being reliable when it comes to messaging and being secure and that's what they've built their success on," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.

RIM may see some renewed success if it uses Tuesday's earthquake as a marketing tool to point out the smartphone's security measures and range of uses during emergency situations.

In addition, the BlackBerry may serve as a good example for federal, state and local emergency response teams who need a line of communications that will remain open and secure in emergency
situations. Government offices have been switching in recent months to Apple and Android phones, but may return to RIM if its value on dependability in emergency situations becomes a main priority.

After this news, potential customers may join many corporate phone users in the belief that smartphone security is more important in emergency situations than having a wide variety of apps to choose
from.

[Michelle Haag]

http://forums.crackberry.com/general...on-rim-641993/