( CNN ) -- The love affair between BlackBerry devotees and their mobile communicators is becoming strained , and some of them made the quarrel very public this week after a service outage . Fans often discuss the intimate details about why they are attached at the hip to smartphones made by Research in Motion -- the clack-clack of the tiny keys , the feel of the trackball or square pad on their thumbs , the informative indicator light calling out for attention . They affectionately call it the `` CrackBerry . '' After the recent outage , which RIM says was caused by a server error , some longtime BlackBerry users are writing goodbye letters on blogs , and on message boards operated and frequented by the CrackBerry collective . Richie , a British member of a Web forum called CrackBerry , summed up the concerns , saying RIM has been `` chipping away our faith '' in the company 's ability to satisfy customers . In interviews with reporters , RIM executives issued apologies , which they also made public in a recorded video , but they avoided questions about whether they planned to offer incentives as compensation for the millions of customers affected by the outage . RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter . By comparison , after Sony restored its network this summer following a lengthy outage , the company compensated users of its subscription service , and gave free games and movie rentals to all users . Netflix has offered small discounts to customers affected by technical troubles . Despite RIM 's lack of public comment , an AT & T customer in Cleveland wrote on the CrackBerry message boards that he received a credit on his bill when he called to complain about the outage . RIM customers still holding onto their faith in the company should pay close attention to a conference being held in San Francisco next week . The pressure on BlackBerry from competitors is mounting , and RIM 's promised next-generation models , with dual-core processors and large touchscreens , are overdue . A CrackBerry forum member , posting under the alias N8star , says he is giving up his BlackBerry Torch 9850 `` after years of being treated like a battered spouse by RIM , '' he wrote . His wife urged him to switch to an iPhone , and he says he will acquiesce . Jim Kerstetter , the executive editor for technology website CNET , published an editorial on Thursday titled `` RIM , you 're dead to me now . '' He writes that he has defended BlackBerry , despite the lack of multimedia features , but that the recent outage has spurred him to switch phones and operating systems . RIM still has a comfortable hold on corporate buyers , who snap up large orders for employees . Security experts tend to trust BlackBerry more than other smartphone platforms . However , even tech departments in companies are becoming more lenient on this policy . David Hurst , who was waiting in line to buy an iPhone 4S for his wife at a store in Atlanta , said her company `` has finally approved for her to switch from BlackBerry to iPhone , and her BlackBerry is just falling apart . '' In the now crucial mobile-consumer market , Google and Apple both lead BlackBerry in sales , a trend expected to continue into the crucial holiday shopping season . A combined 69 % of smartphone buyers say they plan to get either an Android phone or iPhone , while only 8 % indicated that BlackBerry was at the top of their shopping lists , according to an NPD study from this summer . RIM is `` struggling to compete against Apple and Android , '' NPD analyst Linda Barrabee said in a phone interview . `` The outage comes at a really opportune time . ... You 've got , during the same week , the availability of the iPhone 4S . '' Among the dedicated Apple followers who lined up outside stores around the world to buy the new iPhone on Friday , some reluctant people waiting at stores told CNN that they were there because they believed BlackBerry was too far behind the technological curve . Outside the Apple Store in Los Gatos , California , a few spots behind Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in line , Karol McBrian held a spot for her son . She is a longtime BlackBerry user , but she said she is changing allegiances . She will be inheriting her son 's iPhone 4 . Teresa Sparks , a 41-year-old nurse in Atlanta , waited in a line across the country from McBrian to buy her iPhone , which will replace a BlackBerry . She is especially excited about Siri , the voice-assistant technology that Apple has promoted heavily . `` I do n't know who made it ; I do n't care , '' she said . `` I just want the personal assistant . '' CNN 's Umika Pidaparthy contributed to this report .
A power outage this week sparked some controversy among BlackBerry customers . Apple faces competitive pressure , most recently from the iPhone 4S . BlackBerry addicts are forced to ditch their longtime drug of choice .