With ban looming, some Saudis rush to sell their Blackberrys as price drops with few buyers

With ban looming, some Saudis sell off BlackBerrys

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Some Saudis are trying to sell their BlackBerrys ahead of a ban on the smart phone’s messenger service in the kingdom.

The Saudi telecoms regulatory agency said this week the service would be halted Friday. By mid-afternoon, it was still operating.

One Saudi newspaper, Okaz, says the halt will begin at the end of the day, at midnight. Saudi officials were not available Friday, a weekend day, to confirm.

Expectations of the ban have pushed some to sell their devices, and prices have dropped with few buyers. At Riyadh’s main mobile phone market, dozens of young men on the street were trying to sell the devices at half price.

Nour al-Zaman, a phone store owner, says “nobody buys it now and people are selling their BlackBerrys.”