that led to a very public apology posted today on youtube by rimm's co-c.e.o. mike lazaridis. >> since launching blackberry in 1999, it has been my goal to provide reliable, real-time communications around the world. we did not deliver on that goal this week, not even close. i apologize for the service outages this week. we've let many of you down. >> susie: but not much of a letdown for investors. surprisingly, tom, the blackberry outage has had minimal impact on rimm shares-- they fell 27 cents today to close at $23.61, and that's just above where the stock closed on friday, before those problems began. >> tom: susie, so far, rimm is staying mum on any plans to compensate disgruntled users. let's take a look at tonight's "market focus." the pace of earnings season picks up, but the major stock indices ended mixed. technology stocks were the strongest area of the market, even before google's quarterly results we mentioned at the beginning of the program. this exchange traded fund follows the nasdaq 100, up about 1% today. this is the past 90 sessions. it's up

this comes at a very bad time for rimm. this comes at a bad time for rimm.inst android and apple and their blackberry playbook failed to dazzle consumers. it's kind of interesting. why can't they compensate? if i have three days of outage, a lot of consumers are asking, why can't i get three days off my bill. members of the their pr team let me know, by e-mail, we are reaching out to our customers in an individual way that would not impose, create tax, income currency or create challenges in offering our valued customers these free and premiere apps. they think it's a great way to show appreciation for their customers. a lot of blackberry fans not happy about this one. >> katie, obviously, the compensation is so significant between all these various manufacturers, but i have to say, it was a little bit refreshing being able to say, yeah, my blackberry's not working. but, anyway, well, some good news for all mobile phone users, no more scary surprises when the cell phone bill arrives, right? >> yes. after a two-year probe by the fcc, all major wireless carrie

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it bought an irish company called new-bay, reportedly for $100 million, a relatively small sum for rimm. but it gives research in motion social networking tools for smartphones and tablets. investors aren't that excited by the deal though. shares of rimmm lost 4%. the company has seen its smartphone business erode by apple and android phones and their apps for users. finally, commodity losers. coffee fell more than 4%. vietnam and brazil coffee crops are expected to be near-record harvests. natural gas was down 3% as was silver. and that's tonight's market focus. >> susie: more now on the nation's jobs picture, colorado is one of the few states in the country with an unemployment rate below the national average. and part of the reason is its role as a launching pad for small businesses, especially restaurants. chipotle and red robin gourmet burgers are just two examples of colorado start-ups that became big success stories and big employers. cynthia hessin from our bureau at rocky mountain pbs introduces us to some new denver food entrepreneurs hoping to do the same. >> reporter: lunch

rimm blames a switch failure for the problem, saying a backup switch also failed. users are having trouble getting messages and browsing the internet. so far, there are no reports of any problems for blackberry users in the u.s.. >> susie: more now on the nation's big banks. with their earnings under pressure from new regulations, tonight's commentator says it's time for consumers to think differently about banking. he's daniel gross, columnist and economics editor at yahoo finance. >> an uproar ensued recently when bank of america said it would impose monthly fees on account holders who use debit cards-- a clarifying uproar. the bank blamed new regulations, but it needs the cash to make up for billions of dollars in mortgage losses, and to pay for its massive overhead-- the thousands of bank branches, but also the fancy offices, corporate jets, and multi- million dollar salaries. nks gave away the convenience of free checking, online bill payment, and ubiquitous branches because they made up those costs in mortgages and investment banking, two areas that blew up i

but for rimm, blackberry maker rimm these outages are happening all over the world in europe, mideast, brazil it has been going on for three days now and now just hitting the u.s. what rimm is blaming what it calls a cord switch failure and the backup switch didn't work either. the company is apologizing trying to get things up and running as quickly as possible. you know what, there's not much margin for error at this point for blackberry because you know blackberry was once the leading corporate smartphone but really losing market share as more and more workers are using their iphones and ipads and the competition is heating up and this certainly does not help the blackberry, but it helps us who like the silence, kyra. >> take a little bit of a break. all right, alison, i'll text you later. >>> coming up, the alleged assassination plot out of iran gets stranger at every turn. a lot of questions about the moti motives. >>> herman cain in the hot seat over his 9-9-9 tax plan. it replaces payroll taxes, death taxes and personal come intaxes and more. this morning we're fact checking th

. >>> executives and engineers of rimm are in damage-control mode as problems with the mobile service spread into north america. research in motion's chief information officer issued a written apology to customers. we'll have more details on the story during "world business today" just minutes away. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. >>> good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >> and a very good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i'm andrew stevens. you're watching "world business today" and the top stories this thursday, october 14th. after five years of political wrangling, u.s. congress passes a free trade deal with south korea. we'll take a look at the impact on business from carmakers to citrus growers. >>> blackberry blackout. research in motion struggles to restore service in many parts of the world. >>> and if you feel like you spend your life in a fish bowl, wait until you see this week's watery world at work. >>> let's get straight to the european markets at the moment. what we're seeing is stock markets broadly speaking mix

this is the highest magnitude of problem for rimm. they are saying that their insfra structure went out. they are not sure what caused it and they are trying to work the problem. it's been three days and could not come at a worse time for r.i.m.m. they are the number three smartphone maker. well behind google's android system, well behind apple. so this is exactly what they do not need. i want to you listen now to a senior manager from r.i.m.m. who spoke out in europe yesterday. take a look. >> first of all, i'd like to acknowledge the frustration that we know that our customers are experiencing through the delays and messaging and blows in traffic. i'd like to apologize to the customers experiencing this problem. we do have a critical issue on our network and we are working night and day to get it resolved. >> basically, when you have a smartphone, it's an easy proposition. you want to be able to make phone calls and be able to e-mail and if you have a blackberry, chances are you've been affected by this, brooke. >> dan simon, thank

how is that making sort of the investors of rimm, the company that owns blackberry feel? >> fortunately, things are back on track. by far, it was their longest an most widespread service outage. it began on monday with problems in the middle east and africa and europe with a server that went down in the ku uk and then wear was a domino effect. it was not a good week for research in motion. they vowed to turn things around. they have three days later. interestingly, their stock is pretty much unaffected. it cled osed on friday at about4 a share. similar to what it was before the week. a far cry from $140 or whatever it was back in 2008. so t company is -- there is rumors of buyouts as per usual but at this point, it seems like their stock is pretty unaffected despite all their p.r. problems this week. >> lucky them, following a streak of a lot of bad luck. >> thanks so much. mark saltzmann, appreciate that. >> thanks. thanks fredricka. >>> for more high-tech reviews, go to cnn.com/tech and look for the gaming and gadget tab. >>> some high-tech help allows you to get a peek

and rimm, the maker of the blackberry announced today it's giving users $100 in free apps in a way to outage but only a portion of blackberry users will benefit, because you have to on the in. it's not an automatic refund. sign up if you want the refund. it's not just good customer relations, it may spark interest in blackberry's app store. it is just not enough, sorry. number five, it has been 73 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? >>> president obama began another bus tour, pushing his jobs proposal. this time, he was in north carolina and virginia. now, republicans are saying the road trip is about saving one job, his own. and you know there is a reason that they are suspicious. cnn's tom foreman has been looking at a map and what do you see there, tom? >> erin, you're right, there is a reason to be suspicious. look, this is the 2008 result here. we know all the blue states went to president obama, all the red states went to john mccain. look where the president's been since mid-august of this year. all of his travel except for one trip

and rimm, the maker of the blackberry announced today it's giving users $100 in free apps in a way tobut only a portion of blackberry users will benefit, because you have to on the in. it's not just good customer relations, it may spark interest in blackberry's app store. it is just not enough, sorry. number five, it has been 73 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? >>> president obama began another bus tour, pushing his jobs proposal. this time, he was in north carolina and virginia. now, republicans are saying the road trip is about saving one job, his own. and you know there is a reason that they are suspicious. cnn's tom foreman has been looking at a map and what do you see there, tom? >> erin, you're right, there is a reason to be suspicious. look, this is the 2008 result here. we know all the blue states went to president obama, all the red states went to john mccain. look where the president's been since mid-august of this year. all of his travel except for one trip to texas has been in blue states. and more importantly, look at the o

is rimm in big trouble? are we all going iphone? >>> plus, lonely at the top.e're hearing lots of talk these days about president obama not being a people person. but our new poll says, not so fast. >>> but first today's trivia question. who was once spotted reading a book during a white house state dinner. tweet me@chucktodd@thedailyrundown. the answer coming up. [ female announcer ] the humana walmart-preferred rx plan gives you the lowest plan premium in the country... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us.

. >> until the iphone came around blackberry and rimm, the blackberry was the device to have.what companied supported. it was the crackberry and still prevalent, but if you look at the numbers, i mean rimm is rapidly losing market share, really struggling right now because of the iphone. and you just don't hear the term crackberry thrown around as much as you used to. >> the impact on the rest of the industry was huge because suddenly these other telecommunications software platforms operating systems that didn't have robust enough developer communities found themselves scrambling. >> and we call it the ipad. >> the market is stunning. first of all, no one uses tablets. people only really say ipad. >> they had a tablet strategy before the ipad came out. once the ipad came out, competitors had to throw their plans away because they now had to respond to a highly sophisticated, very popular device that just took off. i mean, it became the fastest growing, most accepted consumer electronic product of all time. >> the impact of the ipad remains unquestionable. every computer manuf

. >> rimm going down? >> they are going down.e next one will be curly. two ceos that don't know what they are doing. i think they are bringing in a new ceo. i don't think he knows what he's doing. >> what you're saying is you're undecided about their future? >> yeah. undecided as i wait for my apple iphone 4s because i'm on waiting list. i'm on a waiting list. can you imagine? they told me. literally. why don't you get another phone while we get that other phone in for you. what does that tell you about apple? >> this voice activation thing. >> insane. >> play some cold train. >> it's the sign of the apocalypse. tri lateral commission is behind this. >> queen of england too is involved. >> i'm sure she is. >> a friend of mine goes siri i think you're beautiful. and the response was i'll take that as a compliment. >> compared to the woman in the trunk. the woman in the trunk sends the wrong ways. >> what your talking about? >> your gps in the car. >> what your talking about. >> come on. she doesn't know jack. >> the woman in the t

meantime, the co ceo of rimm, research in motion, has just put a message on their website, apologizingbut still may be too soon to say if the issue is fully resolved. >> too bad they can't e-mail them. they won't get it. >> the worst possible moment. this crisis comes at the moment with the blackberry teetering on the edge. they're dead, doomed, over, it's history. simon -- >> on fire. >> simon, that's a harsh assessment, but shared by a lot of people i talked to yesterday. >> remember, the stock was already down 60% so far this year, because the competition with apple was so fierce. you've got to say, if you've got -- if you've got -- if businesses have ground to a halt in their communication for three days around the world, a lot of those people that give their employees blackberries are going to reconsider whether it isn't time to switch. this is huge, potentially, for the business. >> all right, simon, thank you so much. >> have a good day. >> greatly appreciate it. we'll be back in a minute and make you laugh by getting milk through the nose or something. cap'n crunch. [ male anno