Blackberry have long since been known for their secure email, web browsing and messaging service (BBM), but what happens when it goes wrong? Well blackberry users across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India found out around 11:00am on Monday 10th October 2011. The problems then spread to Brazil, Chile and Argentina during Tuesday 12th Oct. So what caused this widespread disruption? RIM place the blame with one of their core switches failing, this on it's own wouldn't  have caused widespread disruption, but when the fail-over switch failed to come online, Blackberry users were plunged into darkness. 

Many of Blackberry's customers feel let down by the company who have been very sketchy about the problems and when they are likely to be resolved. This will do nothing to aid the companies battle for market share in this very competitive market. It's perfect timing however for Apple as they launch their iMessage today (Wed 12th Oct) that works just like Blackberry's messenger.

Wednesday the 5th October 2011 will stick in my mind as the day we lost one of the greatest innovators of our time. Steve Jobs had been at the helm of the worlds most valuable (227billion) technology giant, Apple since he started the company 35 years ago in his parent’s garage, but due to failing health he resigned as CEO in late August 2011, sadly today he lost his battle against pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

Social media networks have been flooded with tributes to the technology guru, so much so that Twitter was struggling to cope with the number of tweets being posted; early reports indicate that Jobs is likely to break the current record of 8,868 tweets per second, it’s estimated that the figure could exceed 10,000 tweets per second!

Steve Jobs has forever changed the way we use and look at technology, he made it sexy! His innovative products such as the iPhone and iPad which have revolutionised the way we communicate today are testament to this. 

Steve Jobs will be missed by many, but may his spirit live on in Apple…