RIM: Sorry About BlackBerry Outage ... Want Free Apps?

In an attempt to appease the tens of millions of angry customers who were affected by the days-long BlackBerry outage last week, Research In Motion is handing out $100 worth of free premium apps starting Wednesday. "We’ve worked hard to earn [customers’] trust over the past 12 years and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect,” says the company’s co-CEO in a statement. “We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again." But the expensive solution may not be enough to earn back the trust of corporate customers, Reuters notes.

In addition to the free apps, Enterprise customers will get a free month of technical support. Some mobile operators will also compensate their customers, though they might push RIM to foot the bill. RIM’s move is a smart one, says one analyst, because it will “attract users to the App World” and could ultimately result in more downloads. But another analyst notes that even this swift response “won’t undo the damage done to its reputation." Engadget reports that 12 apps are included in the package, with more to come. So far, the apps include SIMS 3, Bejeweled, iSpeech Translator Pro, Texas Hold'em Poker 2, and Shazam. (More Blackberry outage stories.)