BlackBerry jam

Stuart Matthews.

RELATED ARTICLES: UAE and Saudi bans BlackBerry Messenger service | ASHRAE launches iPhone app for ventilation rates | Smart phones can monitor air quality, energy use

For some, October 11 is going to be a traumatic day.

They will be cut off from the services of an increasingly ubiquitous business and social tool, as the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority hits the off button on the BlackBerry’s messenger services.

According to a ConstructionWeekOnline spot poll, communications turmoil could be awaiting some 44% of the construction industry’s BlackBerry users, who see the phone’s services as an essential business tool: 22% think it’s a problem they can work around and 20% think its no problem whatsoever.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

It’s likely to be the bigger contractors and firms affected. The BlackBerry deals offered at an enterprise level are designed to get the phones into everyone’s hands and have been effective in doing so. The wide reach has made international communication easier for companies whose staff travel between projects around the region. It has also helped with getting information to site more quickly.

That said, at least one project manager I know is actually breathing a sigh of relief. A self-confessed Luddite, he frequently bemoans incessant updates and will not miss the feeling of constant contact.

His employers may be less thrilled. Swift conveyance of information has undoubtedly upped the pace of progress and companies have introduced new systems based on the availability of the technology. A sudden change in that availability may set things back.

The phone’s addictive qualities had earned it the informal moniker ‘CrackBerry’. A recently converted colleague can testify to the truth of this.

Since buying one, he has become increasingly dependent on the happy ping of incoming mail; his unimpressed girlfriend had her silence bought with an engagement ring. He will soon return from holiday to find himself on a cut-off countdown. There’s unlikely to be a BlackBerry patch to help wean him off, but he’ll definitely be richer; personal data contracts are pricey, even by the byte.

For companies, the true cost is yet to be measured. So far all the fuss has been about the loss of service, but the cost of finding alternatives will soon loom large. An IT manager who runs servers for a modest legal outpost of a global law firm, made an off-the-cuff estimate of US $300,000 to get a competitive replacement up and running.

This doesn’t include the cost of their handsets, which can just be sent overseas. Nor does it account for the fact that it means a portion of the global company will be using an inconveniently different system. The good news is it may make it more difficult for those lawyers to track their billable hours, while on the phone.

As we went to press, the Saudi government, which was also threatening to block services, was in reach of an agreement with the phone’s makers. Construction users in Dubai will be hoping for a similar result, or they could find themselves in a BlackBerry jam.