RIM plans on giving out more than a $100 worth of apps to individual BlackBerry users in an attempt to make up for the problems caused by its service outage last week.

The company has handled the problems customers faced with things like email, internet and BBM rather well. Customers have been given regular updates on when things were getting fixed and the BlackBerry Twitter page has pulled no punches when explaining exactly where and what issues were being faced.

BlackBerry plans on taking things a step further by making a rather juicy selection of premium apps available free to download. Things like the Sims 3, N.O.V.A and Bejeweled will be made available to customers from 19 October on BlackBerry App World running all the way until the 31 December this year. 

RIM is also going to be offering BlackBerry Enterprise customers a full months worth of technical support for free. This is likely to be hugely expensive for the company, particularly when you consider the large number of BlackBerry devices businesses use.

"Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers.

"We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future." said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

BlackBerry states that as of 13 October service has been returned to normal. Not perfect timing to have such a major service outage alongside the launch of a new Apple device, we suspect a few loyal customers might have been lost to the likes of Apple. 

What do you think? Free apps enough to heal the wounds of no BBM? Let us know in the comments below...