![](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/5e2f96803734678e862bc16552a902a938e7dfa7/hub/2011/10/11/25973162-cbf2-11e2-9a4a-0291187b029a/bbm-back-online.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
BlackBerry Messenger is back online at last. BlackBerry maker RIM has finally rectified the breakdown that saw BBM outages spring up across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Yesterday, some BlackBerry subscribers in the EMEA region experienced delays with BlackBerry services. The issue was resolved and services are operating normally,” RIM has said.
“We apologise to those customers who were impacted for any inconvenience.”
But apologies won’t bring back the precious BBM-time that was lost. Reuters reports it took RIM 20 hours to fix the service — that’s a long time to go without the BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry messaging service if you’re stuck in a boring lesson or meeting, and desperately need to message your mates while pretending to take notes.
The issue was due to faults in RIM’s Slough-based servers, with some users saying they couldn’t send or received emails or connect to the Internet. To put it in more general terms, the whole mess was borked, leaving BlackBerry users fuming.
Things aren’t so rosy for the BlackBerry and its buddies, with RIM struggling to compete with smart phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the iPhone. BBM is pretty much the best thing about owning a BlackBerry, and if it proves unreliable we’ve no doubt that message-hungry teens will jump ship.
How did the BBM outage affect you? Did it ruin your day, or did you appreciate the peace and quiet? Let us know in the comments section below, or sound off on our Facebook wall.