No BlackBerry in Dubai?

Interesting news this morning that the United Arab Emirates will soon ban BlackBerry usage in the country.

The ban on BlackBerry e-mail, messaging and Web browsing services will extend to foreign visitors, too, which has potentially damaging repercussions on the AEC industry that has relied on the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai, in particular, for so much work in recent years.

After all, as any busy A/E firm leader will tell you, they call it a "CrackBerry" for a reason, and if you take one away from someone who uses it, it makes executives that much less productive than if they were able to read and respond to e-mails as they come in.

But you go where the business is, and if the price of doing business in Dubai is no BlackBerry then we may see a cadre of spouses sending their CrackBerry addicts to the wealthy Middle Eastern country.

Ed