Crashberry? The Cost of Lagging Infrastructure.

I read a interesting InformationWeek article today regarding user reaction to recent outages of Research in Motion's BlackBerry email service. In case you missed it, the service was down not once, but twice in as many weeks!

This story reminds me of AT&T's ongoing network problems. Earlier this month, Mashable reported that AT&T Mobility CEO Ralf de la Vega "candidly admit[ed] that wireless coverage in Manhattan and San Francisco is ... subpar."  There was another report on Mashable yesterday regarding efforts to limit iPhone sales in the New York area as an attempt to limit strain on the network. 

You have to wonder if both AT&T and BlackBerry have underestimated user demand for services. This is clearly a customer satisfactions issue that could cost both significant revenue. If the iPhone was available on the Verizon network ... well, you know what would happen. Of course, I am not sure that the Verizon network could sustain the extra demand. They better all ramp up their infrastructure because data requirements are only going to increase! 

Rick

BTW, I  have used a Blackberry for about 8 years. For the past few months I have also been a iPhone user. (I have a Storm for work, and an iPhone for personal use).  Having a device on both the Verizon and AT&T network allows me to compare the two. There is no question that I get better coverage on the Verizon network. The iPhone appears to be faster when accessing data (that is just my observation).