Indian Govt. May Intercept Blackberry Mails After All

This hasn’t been Blackberry’s (or for that matter Research in Motion’s) week by all counts. First, it was the ongoing tussles over security of enterprise e-mails with multiple Asian governments, then it was the disappointing response to their newest flagship device- the Torch 9800 and now, reports are filtering in that Blackberry device sales in India are also being hit.

However, some of the black clouds may be being blown away after all. If all goes well in a meeting today between the Indian telecom ministry and RIM officials today, then both parties may agree on a technical solution which will allow the government to intercept and access e-mails being sent using Blackberry’s e-mail and messenger service. The Economic Times have quoted Blackberry officials as being “optimistic” regarding their meeting with the government.

In another report by the Times of India, sales of Blackberry mobile phones are reportedly dropping thanks to the ongoing controversy with the government. The report says that grey market vendors in Mumbai have stopped refreshing their stocks of Blackberry phones until they are clear about the issues between the government and RIM. The report further claims that this continuing issue may cause the number of Indian Blackberry users to drop below the current figure of 11 lakhs and the biggest gainer would be Nokia, thanks to their E-series business mobile phones.