RIM’s BlackBerry Fails, Cutting Off E-Mail Service

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry service collapsed Wednesday, leaving an unspecified number of the company’s eight million subscribers without e-mail and creating a backlog of undelivered messages. The company said it was experiencing disruptions in North America and other parts of the world. It did not say when the service might be restored.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the two largest U.S. wireless service providers, both said the problems began Tuesday night. AT&T, based in San Antonio, was working with Research in Motion to resolve the issue, said an AT&T spokesman, Mark Siegel. He did not provide details on the number of customers affected.

“Please be advised that we are currently experiencing a service interruption that is causing delays in sending and receiving messages,” said a recording on a customer service number for RIM in Vancouver. The company “will provide updates as soon as they become available.”

Officials at the company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, could not be reached for comment.

The disruption may be limited to North America, with some problems in other parts of the world for customers who receive their e-mails through North American servers. Mobile phone companies in Asia and Europe said they had not experienced problems.

Shares of Research in Motion fell $3.22, or 2.1 percent, to $128.50 in early Wednesday trading on the Nasdaq stock market. Before Wednesday, shares of Research In Motion had gained 2.7 percent this year.

Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, began receiving calls from customers at roughly 6 p.m. on Tuesday in New York, a Verizon spokesman, Jim Gerace, said in an interview. He declined to say how many customers called or how many owned BlackBerry devices.

Research In Motion had 45 percent of the U.S. market for advanced phones with features like e-mail in the fourth quarter, according to the researcher IDC.

A General Motors spokesman, Chris Preuss, who is based in Detroit, was one of several U.S.-based participants on a press trip in China who had intermittent or blacked-out BlackBerry coverage.

The BlackBerry service is “the only way I have to communicate,” said Preuss, who was in Liuzhou, China, for a press trip for a GM joint-venture factory. “When I lose it, it’s paralyzing.”

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