BlackBerry users have had to cope with every smartphone user’s worst nightmare this afternoon – a phone that’s only good for making phone calls.

It appears that a server crash at one of RIM’s data centres in Slough has caused the problem, which has left BlackBerry users unable to access the web, email or BlackBerry Messenger on their devices.

The problem is affecting Blackberry users in Europe Middle East and Africa. There’s no official word from RIM on when the issue might be resolved.

Update:

The BBC reports this morning that email has been restored to BlackBerry users, but there are still problems with the BBM instant messaging service, and web browsing. Mobile Marketing contributor Helen Keegan was invited to appear on Al Jazeera yesterday evening to give an expert opinion on the problems, and criticised BlackBerry owner RIM for not using social media channels to keep customers up to date on what was happening. It appears she has a point. Having just checked RIM's official Twitter feed (570,520 followers), the most recent update reads:

"We apologize to any of our customers in Europe, Middle East & Africa still experiencing issues. We'll bring you an update as soon as we can."

That was posted 14 hours ago. The UK BlackBerry account (22,508 followers) is a tad better. Its latest update reads:

"Our sincere apologies to all of you affected by today's BlackBerry service issues."

Posted 11 hours ago...