A day after RIM debuted its latest entry in the it's-not-an-iPhone-but-an-amazing-facsimile contest, the BlackBerry Torch 9800, it got a kick in the keister from Saudi Arabia.
The kings of the Sahara just booted the BlackBerry off the dunes. The United Arab Emirates is taking a similar tack, and those two may soon be followed by Indonesia, India, and Kuwait.
Why? Because RIM's private communications network is impenetrable by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in those countries. (Also, you can view naughty websites on your BlackBerry, though why you'd want to on that tiny screen is a mystery to me.)
In the United States and other Western nations, RIM doesn't have this problem. Why? Because the feds and the spooks can eavesdrop on BlackBerrys as much as they'd like, given the proper authority. Think about that the next time you thumb a risque joke to a business colleague.