RIM Responds To Dubai BlackBerry Ban

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As you may have heard, the UAE is banning the use of BlackBerry services in the country, including e-mail, BB Messenger and web browsing. RIM didn’t comment specifically on the news, but they did speak vaguely about it and their commitments to security.

RIM said that it does not discuss ongoing regulatory discussions ongoing with any one government, but they did say that they often meet the needs of governments, corporations and consumers. RIM went on to assure its’ customers that its products were ‘highly secure’ and that it would continue to innovate and deliver new products.

The guys at IntoMobile report that the UAE BB ban will even include tourists – so Dubai’s recovering tourist industry (“Florida in the Middle East”) will be hurt by this, or at least theoretically. I’m sure plenty of families would be happy if they could turn off Dad’s BlackBerry during vacation.

Back to RIM, they say that they’re operating in over 175 countries in the world today, all (or most) of whom accept their security policies. It’s worth noting that several countries restrict their government employees from handling sensitive data on BlackBerries. President Obama in the US is probably the most notable example, as old Barry Obama was allegedly a big BB fan before being elected president. Now, his BlackBerry is highly locked down as president.

The UAE seems keen on blocking BES and BIS in the country, but RIM’s guarded comments seem to indicate that they’re still in negotiations with the country. Hopefully, they can reach an agreement. If there was one country where you didn’t want to give up on as RIM, it’d be Dubai with all of its glass-covered skyscrapers and luxury resorts.