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Research in Motion remained tight -lipped as Saudi Arabian officials said the
company has reached a preliminary deal that would allow the kingdom¶s government
to access BlackBerry users¶ encrypted data, averting a ban on the handsets in that
country.

The agreement would involve placing a server inside Saudi borders, an official told
the Associated Press Saturday.

The move would likely let the government monitor messages and allay the country¶s
concern that Blackberries could be used for criminal purposes, said Bandar al -
Mohammed, an official at the Saudi Communications and Information Technology
Commission.

He declined to provide more details on the agreement, saying that talks are ongoing
and that an anno uncement was expected soon.

RIM has declined to comment on negotiations with Saudi Arabia, and did not
respond to requests for confirmation of the pact.

A spokesperson from Canada¶s international trade department said the government

has been in touch with Waterloo-based RIM and has been working with Saudi
officials to try to avert the ban, but declined to comment specifically on the
agreement.

She directed all other questions to the company.

RIM has been dealing with similar concerns over national security from Lebanon,
India, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.

The countries say the smart phones pose a security threat because encrypted data
sent on the devices is routed through out -of-country computers, rendering it difficult
² if not impossible ² for local governments to monitor.
An agreement allowing Saudi Arabia to monitor messages would taint the
BlackBerry¶s brand and competitive edge ² its sterling reputation for corporate
security, one industry analyst said Saturday.

³Once you start giving countries around the world the keys to the kingdom, so the
speak, that perception of security, that branding, becomes eroded,´ said independent
technology analyst Carmi Levy.

³At a time when RIM is in the marketing fight of its life against increasingly stronger
and aggressive competitors, suddenly its one differentiating technology will no longer
be enough to keep it ahead.´

Corporate BlackBerry users¶ emails are encrypted from end to end, preventing them
from being read by a third party.

³The only thing that rea lly differentiates BlackBerry from its competitors is its
security. That¶s what really sets it apart. It is so secure, companies love them.
Security conscious consumers love them,´ Levy said.

Saudi security officials had voiced fears that the smart phones could be used by
militant groups to avoid detection, throwing a wrench in its ongoing crackdown
against al-Qaida-linked extremists.

Critics, however, say that Saudi Arabia and other countries are also motivated by
their desire to curb dissent and strengthe n their already tight grip over local media.

The kingdom heavily polices the internet, blocking access to websites for political
content as well as for obscenities.

Any country ³where the government is a little bit less than democratic and wants to
use this ability to snoop on its citizens is going to want exactly the same treatment,´
Levy said.

RIM had previously released a statement insisting that reports of governments

receiving unique access to information are ³unfounded.´
While the company remained qui et on the agreement, an official with one of Saudi
Arabia¶s three licensed mobile operators said that ³a deal has been virtually reached
and we are in the process of adding the final touches.´

With about 700,000 BlackBerry users, Saudi Arabia is RIM's bigg est market in the
Middle East.

A ban on BlackBerry instant messaging was set to take effect inside the kingdom on
Friday, but the country¶s mobile phone operators restored full service following a four
hour outage.

John Sfakianakis, a BlackBerry user who i s chief economist at the Riyadh-based

Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group, said RIM¶s deal with the Saudi
government was in order to tap into a ³very lucrative market.´

³RIM is quite smart,´ he said. ³They don¶t want to take themselves out of this
market.´

Saudi Arabia, India and the UAE represent more than 2 million BlackBerry users ²
about 5 per cent of the 41 million in use.

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Research in motion (rim) ltd a Canadian based firm, who introduced the blackberry
smart phones. Many business professionals, corporate leaders, use blackberry
phone for sending messages, emails, and browsing, because it is very safe and
secure. The advantage of the blackberry is that, the security in that. On aug.07 the
three Saudi Arabian phone companies and RIM are in talks to avert a ban on
blackberry service in the country, after a government deadline, it shut off its instant
messaging service. The government (UAE) said that the smart phones pose a
security threat because, its encrypted data sent on the devices is routed through out -
the-country, computers rendering it difficult. If not, it is impossible for local
governments to monitor. The govt of Saud i Arabia is delt with these issues for many
times with rim (a Canadian based company), but there is no proper response from
RIM ltd. So on 3 rd Aug the state ordered 3 mobile phone operators to shut -down
instant messaging service, users in the kingdom said they lost access to some
phone capabilities for, part of the day, before it restored. The interruption of
blackberry service early in the day disrupted the business flow and productivity, for
that day.

Rim has been dealing with similar concerns over nation al security from Lebanon,
India, Indonesia, and the UAE.

The reason why the blackberry is not giving the green signal for the talks with
government is that ³the only thing that really differentiates blackberry from its
competitors is it security´. That¶s what really sets it apart. It is so secure, companies
love them. Security conscious consumers love them. An agreement allowing Saudi
Arabia to monitor messages would taint the blackberry¶s brand and competitive
advantage.

The issues between RIM and kingd om government came to an end on Aug 8, as
Saudi Arabian officials said the company has reached a preliminary deal that would
allow the kingdoms govt to access blackberry users encrypted data, averting a ban
on the hand sets in that country. The agreemen t would involve placing servers inside
Saudi borders, and set the govt. Monitor messages and arrays countries concerns
that blackberry could be used criminal purpose.

   

After UAE ban Blackberry services other governments have also thinking about the
concern over BlackBerry¶s stringent data encryption, including the United Arab
Emirates, Algeria, Kuwait, Indonesia, India and Lebanon. UAE has announced a ban
on BlackBerry services from October 11, and India has threatened suddenly to
suspend all services unless Indian authorities get access to encrypted
communications by August 31.India¶s decision to ban the black berry services will
affect so much for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. Because India is one
of the largest market in the world with 110cores population and around one million
current blackberry users and is already the largest wireless market behind China.

The Indian government give less than three weeks t o report to related authorities
about the problem and with solutions. But there is no signs that RIM will work with
India government or related communication authorities to solve the controversy over
their Smartphone. Earlier this month, RIM refused govern ment access to its data
flows, and denied cutting deals with any governments. On August 12 it also posted a
set of rules for its cooperation with those countries demanding access to data flowing
through RIM servers, in which it repeated its stance on the e qual treatment of all
countries. This will led RIM to a bad passion in share market and customers.UAE
and India¶s ban on the Blackberry¶s key features over security concerns, users fear
that their work routine will crimped and they will look for alternativ es. According to
Associated press many of the user eye alternatives such as I phone, Android and
Nokia. But still some user can¶t afford without blackberry.

An executive for electronics company G-Han¶s, he is Dubai-based businessman

travels about 300 days a year and uses the gadgets to keep up with more than 100
e-mails a day. So it's understandable he's worried about government threats to ban
the service. He is expressing about the Blackberry smart phone as "This is my
laptop, my office and my home," he said of the devices. "People nowadays don't
wait. In today's world, time is money and if you lose time, you lose business."

"Without it, I cannot work," said the 40 year -old Spanish executive with a Swiss
company that makes bank software.RIM implement its o wn messaging system and
with it its own security. Other mobile companies use the standard Internet
infrastructure to deliver email - SMTP/POP3 etc - and because of this their
communications are as secured, or rather as insecure, as any Internet
communications. This system can trace by the government easily and read the
mails and instant messages. So what this means is that I phone and Android email is
just a normal email and it¶s not worthy of special attention. But RIM and the
Blackberry are different. St ill RIM can trace the communication between Blackberry
users but they don¶t want to spend a lot of money on that. That¶s the reason RIM
keep quite on these issues and not getting any actions.
= 
 

The government of Saudi Arabia, and rim had a meetin g, and they dealt with the
problem. Finally rim has accepted, to fix the issues by allowing the messages, email,
and via the government servers.

Deals are turning up that RIM has reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia to keep
BlackBerry service in that country. The b ad news is that it has apparently agreed to
put a server in that country and give the government full access to all user data
stored on it. The deal could have a serious ripple effect as Lebanon, India, the UAE
and Indonesia have also d emanded access to user data. Customers are
disappointed that RIM is giving in. They¶ve built their reputation on provided a secure
service that protects data and now they are throwi ng it away for money. That¶s the
bottom line here. They appear more concerned with keeping the profits generated by
their service in these countries than with protectin g their users¶ privacy. Makes
customers very glad who are living in the U.A.E, India and Indonesia where we have
the basic right to privacy.

If RIM is seen to compromise with governments on security and privacy, the

BlackBerry will lose its attractiveness to customers, but some customers may just go
along with RIM's compromise, viewing it as a necessary adjustment RIM has to
make to do business in emerging markets.

³Changes for the better´