If you've got a business trip to Dubai planned any time after October 11th, you might want to start making alternate mobile arrangements. The UAE has confirmed that their BlackBerry ban applies to foreigners as well.
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The ban applies to BlackBerry data services, so you'll still be able to make calls from your phone. But since so much business is conducted online—and on BlackBerry—it's going to be a huge blow to a country that depends so much on, and so actively courts, international commerce.
There's still plenty of time for either RIM or the UAE telecommunications regulator to blink. Let's hope someone does, because this current policy ends with everybody losing. [Washington Post]