Why BlackBerry's failure to provide info on failure sucks

This is what BlackBerry says about itself: “Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry solution in 1999. BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day.”

Till a few days ago, BlackBerry products and services were, indeed, used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that mattered.

And then, s**t happened. BlackBerry services collapsed, and, in a second, these millions were no longer connected.

The driver to buy the BlackBerry was not the ability to talk, the ability to receive email or even to send text messages. You could do that with a Nokia or a Samsung or an iPhone - though the BlackBerry email is certainly a mite faster.

A key reason to buy a BB was the magic of BlackBerry Messenger, the free message service from BlackBerry. This was a rational, not an emotional, driver. BlackBerry was not cool when you bought it; you saved money by switching to BB and BBM. Millions of non-cool consumers bought the BlackBerry - and the BlackBerry became cool.

It’s an artificial cool. It’s not like Apple cool or Nike cool, where the consumers, the fans, wear the brand proudly on their sleeves, where you show off the logo, where it’s a badge.

So the ’love’ for BB was always in danger if the product or service failed to deliver on the precise, rational reason for the purchase. The moment BB services failed, it’s the rational argument, not emotional one, that comes to the fore. BlackBerry ceases to be a cool brand; it’s reduced to just another service provider with a service failure.

Things become worse when BlackBerry fails miserably in answering the questions in consumers’ minds: What the hell is happening? How long will it take for the service to be back?

What does BlackBerry have to say? Here’s their latest status update on Facebook:

“The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated, and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we will continue to keep you informed.”

Huh? Core switch failure? What is that? Is it a 10-tonne component which has broken and will take a year to build? Is it a small electronic gizmo that is made in Taiwan by the millions and can be bought in an electronic store on Tottenham Court Road?

What does ‘as quickly as possible’ mean? One hour? A day? A week?

BlackBerry’s status update - probably drafted by a legal firm, raises one more question:

BlackBerry, if it doesn’t want to get battered, needs to quickly learn how to communicate better.

• Stop playing with words. Say ‘BlackBerry services are down’, not ‘messaging and browsing delays being experienced’

• Tell consumers what is wrong, in a language that consumers understand

• Tell them how long it will take for the service to be restored (best case, worst case)

If BlackBerry carries on with their communication in the same vein and spirit we’ve seen since the service collapsed, it won’t be too long before they realise that BlackBerry is not a brand, it’s a ’thing’."

Watch video about the BlackBerry outage and user reactions: