RIM has restored its network systems

CANADIAN COMMUNICATIONS FIRM Research in Motion (RIM) has its Blackberry services back up and running across the world after a major outage, the company has confirmed.

RIM said in a press conference this afternoon that it has now restored its network. This news comes after RIM'S co-CEO and founder Mike Lazaridis today apologised to Blackberry users but said the firm could not "give an estimated time" as to when network services problems would be fixed.

RIM appears to have resolved its network problems just hours later, but the firm said full Blackberry services might still take a while to recover.

The company has been in a bit of a flap recently, as also earlier today, The INQUIRER reported that RIM went into apology overdrive as it tried to fix its proprietary network.

The problems started in the UK and spread through Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and finally to North America and Canada.

RIM's extended service outage could have major repercussions for the Blackberry brand, and has already seen users taking to Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustrations. µ