BlackBerry broken for Vodafone customers, RIM investigating

Update: RIM says it's fixed the issue, with a statement that reads, "Our apologies to any customers impacted by the BlackBerry service issue today. We can confirm that services have been restored and are now operating normally." Original story follows.

BlackBerry services are currently borked for Vodafone customers across Europe, on the day the ailing firm's biggest rival launches its newest smart phone.

In a statement sent to CNET UK, BlackBerry-maker RIM said, "We are currently experiencing a BlackBerry service issue impacting some users in Europe, Middle East and Africa."

The unlucky firm went on to state, "All relevant support teams are working to resolve the issue," and tweeted that it was "investigating" the issue. I spoke to RIM and they told me that the issue appears to be limited to Vodafone.

There's no word yet on precisely which services are affected -- if you're a BlackBerry owner currently experiencing issues, let us know exactly what's gone wonky in the comments below, or over on our Facebook wall.

The Telegraph reports that the outage kicked off at 8am this morning -- poor timing for RIM as that's exactly the moment that the iPhone 5 went on sale in the UK. Apple-addled fans queue in London to buy the iPhone 5. The downtime recalls the disastrous days-long BBM outage of autumn last year.

Here's hoping RIM can fix the glitch sharpish -- we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear something.

The next big BlackBerry gamble will come early next year, when it launches BB10, an all-new operating system.

Is your BlackBerry experiencing issues today? Tell us in the comments, or vent your frustration on our Facebook page.