Dubai and the rest of the UAE just lost a lot of international respect and standing as a business hub, if you ask me.

And it's also an issue in India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/B...

It's not simply businesses that are effected. Overall, it is young people who use BlackBerry's in the UAE.

The two carriers (Etisalat & Du) have pushed them heavily here. They allow young people to talk to each other without actually talking - which would be taboo.

If you go anywhere in the UAE, nearly all you can see is BlackBerry's. People spend more than half of their time messaging each other, email or otherwise.

I think the Gulf states are trying to apply their power to make RIM play their game. The states will succeed if RIM thinks it's a worthwhile market to stay in.

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This will be largely driven by morality concerns in Saudi Arabia. If they can't monitor the comms then they can't see whether or not young unmarried men and women are talking to each other, which means that they will.

It'll eventually get lifted I imagine, there was a similar think with cameraphones that was ineffectively enforced years back in kingdom.

I guess the tech they are not blocking (texts, phone, email) they feel confident they can snoop.

I bet the government is interested in all the gossip that goes around on BlackBerry service.

Betcha some smart-asses took out shorts on RIM and longs on Apple right before this bullshit.