Bahrain to World: BlackBerrys Welcome

A full-page ad in The Economist this week features a photo of an actual-size BlackBerry, smack in the middle of the sheet. But the advertisement wasn’t taken out by RIM for its business-minded smart phone. Instead, it is promoting the Middle Eastern nation of Bahrain. The BlackBerry’s screen declares: "Bahrain has the most liberal telecoms market in the Gulf."

The ad, which follows the magazine's contents page and may have cost up to $182,250 based on The Economist's rate charts, plays off recent fears that BlackBerry service could get shut down in two other Gulf states. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both say their governments need to be able to intercept messages in order to prevent terrorist attacks. RIM originally balked at giving the governments the encryption keys, despite threats from the two countries to shut off service.

Bahrain actively competes with Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other Gulf entities for coveted international business and trade. It is happy to let members of the world community know that their BlackBerry addictions are safe on the island nation. The idea, no doubt, is to play to concerns that the Saudis and Emiratis are really trying to censor BlackBerry communications.

”Bahrain isn’t going to put up a wall,” says Khalid Al Jalahma, deputy chief of mission at the country's embassy in Washington. “These restrictions make it a lot less friendly and more difficult for businessmen who come into town. We are just putting it out there [that] we are not planning on doing this [restricting BlackBerrys].”

The point, though, may well be academic: it now appears that RIM is near a deal with the Saudis to keep handsets vibrating, and the U.A.E. will delay the shutoff until October to allow time for the company to come up with a compromise.