Thursday, April 14, 2011

Asked on India, BlackBerry CEO walks out of TV show

Research in Motion (RIM), the Canada-based wireless technology company that makes BlackBerry phones, has desisted from confirming the unofficial bits of information streaming out of the government corridors that it has given the government access to monitor its enterprise services in India. The company yet again refused to clear the air on the issue when confronted by British broadcaster BBC News. 

Mike Lazaridis, the man who co-founded RIM in 1984 while still a student and is currently the president and co-CEO, walked out of the technology show BBC Click after correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones asked him about the problems the company was facing in India and the Middle East. A visibly upset Lazaridis said the question was “unfair” and the company was facing no security problems. 

Cellan-Jones, however, asked Lazaridis if he could confidently tell his listeners and viewers across India and the Middle East that they were going to have no problems using BlackBerry services and if he could give them an assurance that the services were safe. But Lazaridis cut him short and announced that the interview was over. “The interview is over. You can’t use that...This is a national security issue,” Lazaridis told the correspondent and asked the camera to be turned off. 

Resources:- http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Asked-on-India--BlackBerry-CEO-walks-out-of-TV-show/776361/