BlackBerry is still deliberating how to compensate operator partners such as Etisalat and du after a four-day fault in its service hit millions of subscribers.
Users in the Middle East were among those who were affected by last week's technical fault at a UK data centre. Email, internet and BlackBerry Messenger services were affected. The UAE's two telecommunications companies agreed to refund BlackBerry subscribers three days' subscription fees because of the network's breakdown.
Separately, Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry handset, said yesterday it was offering BlackBerry customers US$100 (Dh367) worth of free mobile applications to make amends for the service disruption.
However, RIM said it was still in discussions on how to compensate its carrier partners.
Sandeep Saighal, RIM's managing director for the Middle East, said the $100 of free applications was the "first step" in addressing the problem.
Customers of Etisalat and du would still be eligible for the free apps, despite having been promised separate compensation, he said. Downloads will be available from today until the end of the year.
The selection of free apps includes games such as Sims 3 and Bejeweled, tools such as iSpeech Translator Pro, and the Shazam Encore music app. Mr Saighal said free Arabic apps would also be available. Analysts warned that BlackBerry customers could leave in droves as a result of the service disruption, but Mr Saighal said the company had not seen any immediate impact.
"We haven't really got down to calculating the whole impact. But we have seen that most of the consumers have stayed on," he said.