Mobile phone service providers scrambled on Tuesday to hold onto half a million users spooked by BlackBerry's showdown with UAE regulators, offering them a switch to Apple's iPhone and other rival smartphones.
"I'm going to grab the Nokia option, it seems more of a business phone than Apple," said Wiam Nabulsi, an account manager at an advertising agency in Dubai.
The UAE said on Sunday it planned to suspend BlackBerry email, web browsing and Messenger services from October 11 unless the maker, Research In Motion, allows it access to encrypted messages. On Tuesday, top service provider Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat), which is partly government-owned, began offering free handsets and discounted service packages to prompt users to switch.
As well as Apple, it has offered phones from Samsung, Nokia and LG.
Rival provider du telecom, in which the government also has a stake, plans similar offers and is set to detail them on Wednesday.
Nawwar Nashawati, who owns an events and concierge services firm, said one challenge would be explaining to overseas visitors why their BlackBerry roaming services would be limited once they land in the UAE.
But Erik Becker, who works at International Finance Corp, the investment arm of the World Bank, said the ban would put him out of step with his colleagues.
"We'll be the only office at the IFC not able to use a BlackBerry. It's an important tool especially with the weekend being different here," he said.
Concessions
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion may be considering concessions to governments who have voiced concerns about the tight security that makes its devices so popular, newspapers said on Tuesday.
India's Economic Times newspaper reported that RIM had agreed to allow security authorities in the country to monitor BlackBerry services after pressure from governments worried about national security.
Separately Kuwaiti daily al-Jarida said RIM had given "initial approval" to block 3,000 porn sites at the request of Kuwait's communications ministry.
Unlike rivals Nokia and iPhone maker Apple, RIM controls its own networks which handle encrypted messages through centres in Canada and the UK.
That has made the BlackBerry popular as a secure way to communicate, but has worried governments.
Saudi Arabia has also asked service providers to cut off Messenger, industry sources told Reuters.
Bahrain in April warned against using Messenger to distribute news.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and India represent more than 2 mln BlackBerry users, or about 5% of the 41 mln devices in service worldwide.
