October 17, 2011 - 16:37 AMT
BlackBerry offers users free apps after service outage

After a BlackBerry service outage that lasted more than three days, Research In Motion (RIM) is trying to make amends with users by offering them a selection of premium apps for free, as well as one month of free technical support, Mashable reports.

There are currently 12 apps on offer, including SIMS 3, Bejeweled, Texas Hold’em Poker 2, Bubble Bash and Shazam Encore, and RIM claims more will be added at a later date. The value of all the 12 apps put together is approximately $100.

Enterprise customers will be offered one month of free technical support; current customers will get a one month extension on their existing contract, while customers who currently don’t have a technical support contract will get a one month trial of the service.

The BlackBerry service outage, which lasted for the better part of last week, was one of the worst such outages in the history of the company, leaving millions of customers worldwide without access to various apps and services such as e-mail. RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis publicly apologized after the outage, and now RIM is trying to make the entire experience less painful with some apps and free support.