Mike Lazaridis apologizes for BlackBerry outage: 'We've let many of you down' (video) (Update: full services restored)

Now that BlackBerry services are returning to full functionality, RIM founder Mike Lazaridis has decided to issue a public apology for this week's mysterious global outage. In a video address published today, Lazaridis acknowledged that RIM dropped the ball this week, but assured that his company is working hard to remedy the situation. "I apologize for the service outages this week," Lazaridis said. "We've let many of you down." The executive went on to say that services are approaching normal levels across Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, but could not give an estimate as to when RIM may see full global recovery. "It's too soon to say that this issue is fully resolved," Lazaridis explained, adding that there may be some instability as the system returns to normalcy. He reiterated, however, that his company is "working tirelessly" to restore services and, perhaps more important, consumer trust. Skip past the break to see the full video for yourself.

Update: RIM is holding a conference call now and Mike just said "we have restored full services." That's said to be the status globally, so go ahead, spend a few minutes and get that BBM backlog out of your system. You deserve it. If you're still not receiving messages, RIM suggests pulling your battery and rebooting the phone. And those RIM folks probably need some sleep... "nobody's gone home since Monday," following "the largest outage we've ever experienced."