How do you translate into multiple languages the phrase, "When will my BlackBerry service be restored?"
After service disruptions of various durations in Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, Latin America, Canada and the U.S. last week, Research in Motion is now offering BlackBerry users up to $100 worth of premium apps for free "as an expression of appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions."
Among these premium apps designated for free downloads are iSpeech Translator Pro, RIM says.
The RIM homepage has a thank you link detailing its premium app giveaway.
Other premium apps being offered for free in Blackberry App World range from The SIMS 3 to Texas Hold'em Poker 2 and Vlingo Plus-Virtual Assistant. These premium apps will become available for free starting Oct. 19.
Whatever your native language (iSpeech Translator covers about 18 languages), the app giveaways may not be much solace for legions of BlackBerry users and travelers around the world who couldn't access their emails for days on end last week before BlackBerry service was restored to "normal" Oct. 13.
RIM's enterprise customers get a bit more than a few fee-based apps for free -- they qualify for one month of free technical suppport.
And enterprise customers with no technical support contract are eligible to receive a free one-month trial of RIM's enhanced support for Blackberry.
At least RIM's near-global outage for BlackBerry didn't occur during its BlackBerry DevCon Americas conference.
That developers conference gets under way in San Francisco tomorrow.