OTTAWA  Given their dependence on the device, it is no surprise that many BlackBerry owners are quick to complain when their smartphone fails to deliver on its promise of offering e-mail anywhere, at any time.

But will a major disruption of BlackBerry e-mail and Internet service from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning  the second failure in a less than a week  prompt any of them to make the switch to another smartphone, threatening the BlackBerry’s market-leading position?

The shutdown, which affected users in North and South America, appears to have started about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Service was generally restored by 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. BlackBerry users turned to another communication platform, Twitter, to express outrage over the latest interruption. “Never Again BlackBerry,” one user post read.

Like other shutdowns in the past, including a major disruption 18 months ago, this week’s failure appeared to be an unintended consequence of a software upgrade. But Research In Motion, the company in Ontario that makes the BlackBerry, again provided relatively little information to users, wireless carriers and the news media.