RIM Says Sorry to Customers with Free Apps

Dino Grandoni

If you ever wanted to play poker for free on your BlackBerry, we have some good news for you. Beleaguered smartphone-maker Research in Motion wants to kiss and make up with its outraged customers for the days-long blackout on its smartphones by giving away $100 worth of free apps, the AP reports. Among RIM's app offerings--free until December 31--are iSpeech Translator, Bejeweled and Texas Hold'em Poker 2. The company is also offering a month of free technical support to its customers on the house as another act of penance. Only time with tell if the move will work, but so far the reaction has been generally positive over at BlackBerry blog CrackBerry. RIM's damage control will continue on Tuesday as the company tries to convince app developers to stick with the BlackBerry at its annual software conference, The New York Times reports.