(Image Source: Sevlakov)

BY IRIS ZHANG

Blackberry has blacked out. On Tuesday, users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa experienced a second day cut off from Internet, mail and instant messaging services through their Blackberry devices.

Angry users tell BBC radio the outage is causing some brand loyalty reexamination.

“It was really frustrating. The amount I’m paying every month for the phone and for the main features of the phone not to work. I’m seriously considering switching from Blackberry. How is this happening? It happened yesterday. We were told the problem was fixed, I want to know why is this happening all over again.”

Blackberry maker Research in Motion, or RIM, has provided no real explanation for the down time. But according to International Business Times, the glitch was caused by a server crash.

“Unlike other smartphones, all data sent to BlackBerry devices is sent via its own encrypted servers, before passing on to handsets. One of these servers is located in Slough, UK and its downtime yesterday.”

A senior editor told Al Jazeera the blackout came at the worst time for Blackberry, considering the fierce market competition it’s facing.

“RIM is really facing an upheld battle right now in the mobile market, I mean, the Android has gained serious esteem, Apple obviously has gained serious esteem with the iPhone. And you know, RIM has sort of lost market share...the fact that they’re not being able to keep up their networks right now, as well as not sort of fight on the mobile front with really good mobile software and devices is really a big problem.”

Another big problem is RIM’s instability. Canadian Business reports share prices have swung wildly over the past year and now there are reports of a possible takeover.

“Shares in the Canadian technology icon (TSX:RIM) have jumped wildly, then dropped back, for much of the last year but especially in recent days on the latest takeover rumour in the market...that U.K. telecom giant Vodafone wanted to buy RIM and that RIM had hired an investment bank to review its strategic options."

Blackberry also continues to have a good share of the market outside the United States. The Guardian suggests the company should do whatever it takes to hang on to this profitable market.

“Any loss of customers in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region would be a serious problem for  RIM...In the EMEA region, RIM has been showing growth in the number of handset sales over the past quarter...That has largely balanced out losses of users in the US.”

Blackberry lost 4.3 million users in the US last year. And it continues to suffer an average loss of half a million users per month.

Transcript by Newsy.