Panama Blackberry users still clicking as class action suits launch

BLACKBERRY  fans  in Panama seem largely to have avoided the service collapse that spread around the world earlier this month, and continued clicking while behind the wheel.  

Elsewhere unhappy users  are taking their texting protests to a higher level.

Class action lawsuits have been launched in against Research in Motion, the  Canadian company behind the mobile phones, in the US and Canada. Millions of users all over the world were left without internet access, email and BlackBerry Messenger services after a crash at a data center in Slough, UK.

It took almost a week for the problem to be resolved.

Tech website Cnet points out: "RIM has offered free apps to say sorry, but hasn't offered any money back for the outage."

That is not good enough for some, and lawsuits were filed in California and Quebec on Wednesday. In California alone as many as 2.4 million are eligible to join the suit.

However, it will not be a straightforward legal action. Many users, inlcuding Eric Mitchell, who brought the suit in America, do not have contracts with RIM.  "They pay their phone network for BlackBerry services. But the lawsuits claim this is an implied contract with RIM," says Cnet.
Meanwhile, in Panama the “Blackberrians” are clicking or chatting away as usual, whether behind the wheel of a car, with that special other in a restaurant or under the table while attending meetings or seminars.