RIM offers free games and apps to BlackBerry black-out sufferers

Providing BlackBerry owners haven’t smashed their phones to shards in frustration over last week’s BBM service blackout, they'll now be able to take part in RIM’s compensation package by getting their mitts on some tasty free apps.

Whilst there’s no refund in sight, the collection of 12 apps being gifted would usually cost punters over $100. The collection includes EA’s Sims 3 and Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. The full list of titles is below.

There will also be a month of free technical support doled out to enterprise customers, even if they are already on an existing support contract.

“We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience,” said RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

“We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence. We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

The apps will become available over the coming weeks.

Games
Sims 3 – Electronic Arts
Bejeweled – Electronic Arts
N.O.V.A. – Gameloft
Texas Hold’em Poker 2 – Gameloft
Bubble Bash 2 – Gameloft

Apps
Photo Editor Ultimate – Ice Cold Apps
DriveSafe.ly Pro – iSpeech.org
iSpeech Translator Pro – iSpeech.org
Drive Safe.ly Enterprise – iSpeech.org
Nobex Radio Premium – Nobex
Shazam Encore – Shazam
Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant – Vlingo