BlackBerry and India - Shiva the Destroyer

We have met the enemy and they are ours

Oliver Hazard Perry; After battle of Lake Erie, 1813

RIM is again in trouble. It is not bad enough, it seems that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia threatened to ban them, and forced a compromise by having RIM install a Blackberry Server in their country and give them access to decryption keys

This so that that Security Officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can listen in Blackberry Messenger and emails or suspected terrorists and Islamic dissidents as stated in the article “Report: RIM to let Saudis monitor Blackberry Data”, published August 7, 2010 2:03 PM PDT by Edward Moyer, CNET News - Wireless

Though John Public suspects like the Europeans, there may also be worry about American snooping on supposedly Private conversations. Ditto to for Jamaica as well.

This is because Blackberry Messenger and email conversations are self encrypted by a key generated by both the server as well as the customer’s handset, effectively a box inside of a box encryption, with the keys inside of the inner box with the message.

However, this encryption is between Blackberry Enterprise Servers and the Main Blackberry Server in Canada or England, as RIM has effectively its own Private Network run over the Data Networks of Telecom Providers, dismissing at once the myth that Blackberry Messaging and emails were free.

The Data Plan was merely bundle into the service. Once RIM has to hand off an email to an email account outside of RIM Network, say to a Google email account, the email is no longer encrypted.

This knowledge prompted fears that resulted in the announcement by Germany to its ministers to stop using the Blackberry, fearing interception by the United States of America, as most email servers are in that country as suggested in the article “German ministers told to avoid Blackberrys, iPhones”, published August 9 2010 by AFP via PhysOrg.

EU is looking into a total ban of this iconic device, which has its own Private Network and Data going through two (2) main servers in England and Canada, a major national security concern that the actions of the major trading partners in their settlement with RIM highlighted

Most of the business in the Far East is conducted in the secure hotels of Saudi Arabia and UAE (United Arab Emirates), with whom this whole episode started as stated in the article “UAE to ban Blackberry services, Saudi follows suit”, published Sunday August 1, 5:14 pm ET By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer, Yahoo News

, the talk of “suppression of freedom of speech” being frivolous statements aimed to roust anti-Islamic sentiments by dissidents of the sovereign states of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who chant that the Wahabi Islamic State is suppressing personal freedoms, when UAE made it abundantly clear that they have no problem with the phone, only the fact that its messages encryption is unreadable in real time, a potential weapon of choice for terrorists.

Plus, if the United States of America can force the registration of its Prepaid customer on Telecom Provider’s network as stated in the article “US lawmakers target pre-paid cell phone anonymity”, published Wednesday 26-05-2010, AFP, Yahoo News.

This is with respect to recent activity on the United States of America Homeland that being the failed bombing plot in New York Time Square by alleged bomb plotter, Faisal Shahzad, a wake up call to the Government of the United States of America, then the Saudi Arabians should reason, should we be any less concerned about our security?

Indonesia is now on the Blackberry “Ban” bandwagon, also for the same reasons as stated in the article “Indonesia joins countries mulling Blackberry ban”, published Wednesday August 4, 5:28 pm ET by NINIEK KARMINI, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News.

India was first threatening as stated in the article “India may decide Blackberry fate on Thursday” Wednesday August 11, 2:50 am ET by Devidutta Tripathy and Bappa Majumdar, Reuters, Yahoo News. India is now imposing a deadline as stated in the article “India to shut Blackberry if security not addressed”, published Thursday August 12 2010 By Bappa Majumdar and Paul de Bendern, Reuters, Yahoo News.

The flame of the Blackberry 9800 Torch is already flickering, what with lackluster reviews and the increasing processor speeds of the new Motorola Droid in the guise of the much rumoured Motorola Droid Pro with a 1.3 GHz Processor is coming as stated in the article  “Motorola Droid Pro with 1.3 Ghz processor coming to Verizon in the fall?”, published Tuesday August 10, 11:37 am ET by Ben Patterson, Yahoo News.

Thus making it look dated when compared to it more brash competitors as reviewed in the article “Fresh and Familiar won't be enough for new Blackberry Torch”, published August 3, 2010 1:00pm by Eric Benderoff, Appolicious albeit it will hold the Blackberry faithful long enough for them to refresh by 2011.

But it is Apple that has the greatest prospects.

It recent acquisition of LiquidMetal, a company that specializes in making an amorphous metal (that is non-rigid polycrystalline molecules structures for you non-Inorganic Chemistry people!!) as stated in the article “Metallic Glass could encase Future Apple Products”, published Wednesday August 11, 11:40 am ET by Stuart Fox TechNewsDaily Staff Writer, LiveScience.

Which logically, points to a future of high end, polished and more easily fabricated products for Apple, inkling of a possible ceramic encased and insulate redesign of its troublesome External Loop Antenna using this magic easily moldable metal that requires little in the way of finishing after casting, provided of course that the metal is not ferromagnetic, which would make it an excellent candidate for an antenna to receive frequencies in the microwave band.

This raises the bar for Apple products, and the fact that they have purchased the company represents a push by the company into making their line of products say more of a fashion statement with the crowd as opposed to being more gadget-crowd pleasing.

Apple, like RIM, despite any international flack it may be receiving from its dealing with the suicides at its FoxConn Manufacturing plant as stated in the article “Why Apple and Others are Nervous about FoxConn”, published June 3, 2010, 11:00AM EST by Stephanie Wong, John Liu and Tim Culpan, BusinessWeek - TECHNOLOGY will however, have Google Android to contend.

As of the time of writing this article, Google Android now surging ahead to third place in the United States of America, now accounting for nearly 27% of the smart phone market, surpassing Apple’s iOS’s 23% for the first time

This according to Broadcast ratings and apparently mobile smart phone analyst Nielsen as stated in the article “Android sales outpacing iPhone”, published Monday August 2, 4:32 pm ET by Christopher Null, Yahoo News and seemingly echoed by the analyst Gartner who documented an incredible 15.4% increase in Global Market share, moving from 1.8% in the Second Quarter of 2009 to 17.2% in the corresponding Second Quarter of 2010, interestingly, mimicking Nielsen figures in the United States of America, indicating the trend in the USA may be catching on Globally.

HTC, a smart phone meister finally breaking into the Top 10 smart phones in terms of global Market share in the Second Quarter of 2010, selling a total of five million, nine hundred thousand (5,900,000) million units, landing at number eight (8) on Gartner’s list, moving from 0.9% in the Second Quarter of 2009 to 1.8% in the corresponding Second Quarter of 2010, an increase of 0.9%, double the previous period.

One can see the definitive reasons why local Telecom Provider Digicel is jumping on the Google Android and HTC Bandwagon with the Motorola Droid rechristened the Motorola Milestone and the HTC Google Nexus One.

The obviously complacent Telecom Provider CLARO and Telecom Provider LIME do not realize that Google Android is gaining traction globally………..with HTC leading this charge against the unfazed lineup of Dragons from the Far East, Nokia, Samsung and LG in 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively, RIM only being second Globally in terms of OS.

India is indeed Shiva the Destroyer, as loss in the Far East markets would spell doom for the once iconic Blackberry if it does not compromise……………. 

Blackberry, my enemy is indeed mine on this Black Friday the 13 of August 2010 AD. Fitting, as I was born in August…………