It's not been a great week for BlackBerry, and with the launch of the iPhone 4S, along with all the fandom that goes with it, the news that many BlackBerry users would potentially opt for an iPhone as a direct result of Blackberry’s service problems couldn't come at a worse time.

According to a survey by shopping comparison site Kelkoo, 62 per cent of mobile consumers surveyed would be going for the iPhone option over BlackBerry.

"Amongst the 1,075 existing Blackberry users surveyed, almost one fifth (19 per cent) are thinking about moving to another manufacturer and 42 per cent will think about changing when they next change their handset. 8 per cent claim they have bought a new mobile phone already," a spokesman for Kelkoo said.

And it appears that the outage has caused a good deal of uncertainty with potential Blackberry users, as 71 per cent of those planning on getting a BlackBerry admitted that they needed reassurance from Rim. It's not all doom and gloom however, as 29 per cent of those surveyed said they'd still go ahead with a purchase.

Chris Simpson, chief marketing officer at Kelkoo, said: "This week has been incredibly difficult for Blackberry users worldwide, however, Blackberry offers a market-leading product with a unique service, which nearly a third of consumers admit they will not find with any other manufacturer. As such, it has a loyal following and this will stand it in good stead to retain customers. Whilst our research highlights that some consumers intend to jump the Blackberry ship, it could be a very different picture in the coming months when this week’s issues become a distant memory."

BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis, to his credit, recently posted a YouTube video apologising for the outage.

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