JEDDAH: The prices of BlackBerry mobile phones have gone back up after the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) postponed a decision on whether to disconnect the handset's messenger service.
Canadian BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Saudi mobile communications firms agreed to test three servers that will allow CITC to monitor communications and data in Saudi Arabia, before it goes to Canada.
People who sold their BlackBerry mobiles immediately after reports that the service could be disconnected returned to the stores only to find that prices had gone back up.
"As soon as I heard that the BlackBerry messenger would be banned, I thought 'why keep my mobile' and I sold it for a less than half the price. Now I regret selling it because I sold it for a really cheap price and now I'm buying it back at double the price," said Saudi citizen Mahdi Jalal.
According to mobile phone seller Mohsen, people are coming back for their mobiles after the media reported that the BBM service is not going to be banned for the time being.
"Some shops bought more than 100 BlackBerrys from customers in the past few days for a cheap price," he said.
"It was a really risky move, but as we thought people came back for their mobiles and I sold almost all of them back for double the price."
Arab News visited mobile phone shops in Philistine Street. After news of a potential ban, the average price of a new BlackBerry dropped to more than half the usual price.
Used devices in good condition were selling for SR400, while the average price before was around SR900.
A new BlackBerry device on the market sold for SR1,200, whereas before the original price was SR2,700. Prices have now gone back to normal.
Some locals bought BlackBerry mobiles in bulk from outside the Kingdom. When the market picked up again they sold them on.
"A man came to the shop two days ago and bought 10 new BlackBerry mobiles while everyone was selling theirs. I got SR10,000 from him that day," said one shopkeeper.
"He came back today with the mobiles and sold it for double the price and of course I bought them all."
According to Egyptian mobile store salesman Medhat, if the CITC had gone ahead with the ban he would have lost a huge amount of money.
"I have sold around 40 BlackBerry mobiles within four hours," he said. "I was afraid people would stop buying BlackBerrys and I just received a new shipment worth around SR600,000," he added.
By Rima Al-Mukhtar
© Arab News 2010
