A night without "CrackBerry": Curse or blessing?

By Franklin Paul

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Self-confessed BlackBerry addicts experienced both a sense of panic, and relief, as the mobile e-mail device's network stalled overnight and cut communications for many of its millions of subscribers.

Nicknamed the "CrackBerry" by users hooked on being connected, the pocket-sized gadget's outage led to lost business deals for some, missed appointments for others and even a hiccup or two in the halls of government.

BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion Ltd. said on Wednesday morning that service to most customers had been restored after an interruption in North America that began the night before.

They gave no details on how many subscribers had been hit or what caused the problem. But the lawyers, traders, politicians and other professionals dependent on the device made it clear their lives were thrown out of whack.

At the U.S. Capitol, where lawmakers and staffers rely on the BlackBerry to keep plugged into shifting legislative and political battles, the temporary outage was crippling.

"I felt like my left arm had been amputated," said Joe Shoemaker, communications director for Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto opened a morning briefing with reporters by apologizing for missed e-mails.

"I think we're 14 hours into no BlackBerrys. So you can imagine how things are over there," he said.