BlackBerry relent in India talks

Research In Motion has promised India a technical solution for decoding encrypted BlackBerry data, a senior official said on Friday, a step that could allay Indian security concerns about the smartphone and avert a shutdown.

Indian authorities, who met with RIM officials on Friday, also pledged to go after other companies — including Google and Skype — to protect the country from cyber-spying and attacks planned over the Internet.

RIM faces an August 31 deadline to give authorities the means to read email and instant messages sent over the BlackBerry. New Delhi says it will pull the plug if RIM won’t comply, threatening its future in the world’s fastest-growing telecoms market.

India is the latest country to step up pressure on RIM, which has built the BlackBerry’s reputation around confidentiality. Business professionals and politicians prefer the device. Governments, including Saudi Arabia, fear it could become a tool for terrorists or those breaking Islamic laws.

India’s demands follow a deal with Saudi Arabia, where a source said RIM agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users. The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria also seek access.

RIM also has a lot to lose. Competitors have eaten into its once-dominant share of the North American smartphone market, pushing the company to look to places like India and Saudi Arabia for growth.

Vocal’s award winning iModus system is used widely across corporate BlackBerry’s for crisis notification and information management. Among the Vocal suite of BlackBerry products are resilient and secure BlackBerry PIN to PIN messaging through iModus and the upcoming launch of the iModus App for Smartphones.

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Source – Reuters