Bye Bye BlackBerry?

A patent infringement battle between the maker of BlackBerry and a patent holding company, might cause a service shutdown.
The New York Times

The story "Bye Bye BlackBerry?" published December 3, 2005 at 8:27 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

Protection racket

"BlackBerry users should tell RIM to stop fooling around with their service and take the license."

How is this different from:

"Hey mister shop keeper, you should certainly hire one of our security guards, or else your customers might complain about how dangerous the neighbourhood has become."

[hkwkejfkw]

Say no to Patents, yes to Copyrights

Patents NEVER help anyone, except the money-grubbing companies that make them. They slow down the industry and the econamy in general.

Sure, without patents, maybe mom+pop companies won't strike it rich, but (1) then they won't be mom+pop companies any more, and (2) a bigger company will be able to produce the product BETTER, which means the consumer (you and I) will have BETTER QUALITY. Competition between name brands and large companies will obviously keep quality up and prices down. PATENTS PROHIBIT TRUE CAPITALISM AND DRIVE PRICES UP.

The global market as a whole will move forward by leaps and bounds once patents are abolished and money-hungry idiots stop worrying about their own selfish *****

Another example of recent patent abuse: small company with "XML patent" holds out hand for $$$ against ALL major companies using XML:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://news.com.com/Small+company+makes+big+claims+on+XML+patents/2100-1014_3-5905949.html" target="_newWindow">http://news.com.com/Small+company+makes+big+claims+on+XML+patents/2100-1014_3-5905949.html</a>

[eppb12]

Hammer -> Nail -> Head!

That is absolutely right.

Patents offer nothing but for the holder to abuse it in every way possible to serve his or her own greedy ambitions...all at the expense of the economy, quality, and consumers' cash.

[Rolndubbs]

Completely wrong

Without patents, there is absolutely no incentive to innovate. Why develope something new if everyone in the market can simply copy your idea? This would kill any and all innovation in any market. Example would be small company A comes up with a great new product, big company B copies said product, and due to economies of scale can produce it at half the price. Company A, the people who came up with the idea, can't compete with company B, the people who simply copied the idea.

Patents are there for a reason. They aren't there to prohibit competition as much as they are there to protect companies who spend millions in R&#38;D, or a small group who come up with an innovative idea or product.

[whatthef?]

Say no to Patents? Are you kidding me?

So what you are saying is that if a company spends their time
and resources (or more likely their investor's resources) to create
significant intellectual property that is unique, they shouldn't be
allowed to protect that technology and make money from others
who use it, after they have created it?

How does that make sense? Should Intel have to make their
intellectual property available so that others can make their own
chips with Intel's technology? Should a new drug be available to
every drug manufacturer, after the discovering company did all
the work to get it to market?

I know, why don't we all just work for free and create really
amazing stuff on expensive computers (that will have to be
given to us because we have no money because no one will fund
us since we are not goiing to be able to protect our IP) and then
we will give away all the amazing stuff we've just created? No
one will ever have to pay for anything again and we will all just
live happily ever after.

Retarded!

[Altaman]

What is wrong with putting $$ in trust and ?

So seeing as one of the patents has been shown invalid, why not put an agreed upon amount in trust until all patents in question have been reviewed?

Also I question why if it was known years ago that RIM had violated these patents, it took so long to enforce them? There should be some onus on the holder of the supposed infringing patents to make a timely claim of the patent(s).

BTW it seems that there is a major flaw in the patent system, where you can patent something and never use the patent you gained to develop a product or service. To me if you are going to patent something, you should be required to have a viable product/service within a given amount of time.

[Leria]

That is exactly right on the time limit

You are exactly right in that a company should have to make a product using their patent in a certain amount of time after the patent is giving, otherwise it becomes null and void, and anyone can make a product using the technology that was patented.
There are so many patents out there for technology that could make our lives better, but no one wants to make them and take a chance of being sued out of existence.

[Nael]

Mobile Messaging

Blackberry is not the only game in town in the mobile messaging arena.

Alternatives do exists, so relieve yourself of thumb aches and move on to better things.

-Good <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.good.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.good.com</a>
-Seven <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.seven.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.seven.com</a>
-Visto <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.visto.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.visto.com</a>
-Intellisync <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://intellisync.com/" target="_newWindow">http://intellisync.com/</a>
-Microsoft <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.microsoft.com/mobile" target="_newWindow">http://www.microsoft.com/mobile</a>
-Palm <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.palm.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.palm.com</a>


So if RIM is out, others are available. It's your choice.

[MTGrizzly]

Get over it...

Why is that, suddenly, we can't live without a technology that was just developed a short time ago? How did we do without it all these years, if Blackberry is so "necessary" to the conduct of "business"?

Technologies, like Blackberry, are supposed to have led to increased productivity, less work and greater personal freedom. Instead, they have bred pseudo-dependencies that actually increase the amount of work, without resulting increases in personal freedom or productivity. They have made it possible - and expected - for people to have to work, or be accountable to their work, 24 hours a day.

One rainy, overcast day, I was standing next to a gentleman in the middle of Denali National Park in Alaska when his satellite pager went off. He had an anxiety attack because there was no way to return the page.

Tell me again how technology has improved our lives????

[1st]

how technology improve our life

have you ever heard about "remote leash"? your friend at national
park used the technology wrong. He should left in his office
drawer and lack it up... he would really remind his boss and his co-
worker that he is on holiday. Technology is great! (put on vibration
even better... you can hear the page jamping in the drawer...some
else would have anxiety attack... Can't teach a suit how to use
technology, Can YOU?)...
;-(

[BlinkMM182]

Great!

You took my reply from me. First of all there are alternatives to the Blackberry. Second, oh well. It reminds me everytime I'm in the mall and see a frustrated person who cant make a call from their cell phone...screaming literally at the phone, as if the conversation was going to be SO important. I hear and see people with Blackberrys on the train every morning...90% of what they use it for useless. As the previous poster said....get over it.

[bbroeman30]

Let the Government suffer too

What is all this about letting the government continue to use the Blackberry system, while forcing a shutdown for everyone else? Let the Government follow the rules they set up and force on the rest of us. They are not above the law....

Let them suffer along with the rest of us.

[Thunder Johny]

Blackberry system

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.analogstereo.com/volvo_s80_owners_manual.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.analogstereo.com/volvo_s80_owners_manual.htm</a>

[IKENY]

ITS NOT RIGHT

LOOK I INVESTED ALOT IN MY BLACKBERRY, I PAID 200 FOR THE UNIT AND SIGNED A 2 YEAR CONTRACT PLUS A I PAY OVER 100 A MONTH FOR MY DATA AND VOICE. IF THEY SHUT RIM DOWN, WHY SHOULD THE CONSUMER PAY!!!, NEXTL/SPRINT BETTER HAVE A WAY OF TAKING CARE OF ME AND THE OTHER MILLIONS WHO USE THE BLACKBERRY. AS FOR NTP??? WHILE I DO UNDERSTAND THE LEGALITY OF THEIR SUIT, I THINK THEIR A BUNCH OF A@!@#HOLES AS WELL RIM FOR NOT TAKING A LICENSE DEAL!!!

[langaria]

Palm a prime acquisition candidate by RIM

Lets not forget that having email access to some is like breath. So the technolgy is new but more and more users have depended on the likes of Blackberry or Treo. An injunction may not be a problem to many people but it could cause a lot of problems for some people in critical need of their email device.

Now a solution that I see no one has looked at is for RIM to acquire Palm. Motorola and Nokia are competitors but they are out of RIM's league. Palm on the other hand has a market cap only 1.3 billion, almost a tenth of RIM's. By acquiring Palm, RIM can market Treo in the US instead of blackberry and other places where NTP may hold some legal rights. We all know today that it is not the hardware but the subscriptions that matter. Who cares if they are using a blackberry device or a treo.

The problem is that Palm will not sell for its market cap of 1.3 billion. They have over 400 million in the bank, they are trading at a price to sales of near 1 and their P/E is just around 2. That is dirt cheap compared to what RIM's valuation.

Now lets say, Palm does agree to a higher, 2 billion price tag. Is this affordable for RIM? The answer in my opinion is a definite yes. First of all, they were going to pay NTP 400 million which they may not have to anymore because of the recent ruling. Secondly, RIM is sitting on 1.2 billion in cash and even if they use all of that plus 800 million in shares, they are ahead by 400 million because of Palm's cash reserves.

At the end of the day, this could cause a 10 to 15 percent in dilution in shares for RIM share holders but the net result is tremendous. RIM will not have to worry about future customers and patent litigations. That is number one. And number two, RIM and Palm together can make a much better entity to face big competitors like Nokia and Motorola.

If this happens, NTP will only wish they had agreed to the original settlement. Now they may get nothing.

[angie is dying]

You prove yourself wrong

"We all know today that it is not the hardware but the subscriptions that matter. Who cares if they are using a blackberry device or a treo."

This is specifically why they won't do that. Palm makes no money on the subscription services associated with the Treo. That's all to the carrier. RIM on the other hand gets a kick back from carriers for allowing users to access the BlackBerry Internet Server. It and the Enterprise server is the magic of RIM's specical sauce. Also what is at the heart of the dispute.

[frankwick]

RIM's time is limited

MS has released their Blackberry killer in the new Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile and an update to Exchange now allows for BB-type pushing to mobile devices. The mobile momentum will swing to MS because of tighter integration, lower cost, and relationships with hardware makers &#38; mobile service providers.

[philpacker]

The real problem is the USPTO

6,317,592, That is one of the patent that NTP has "against" RIM. IT
really should be the number of reasons that the Patent Office needs
to be reformed. I know that most of you don't look at these things
but it really is worth reading a few to find out how s%#^$* up the
USPTO has become. This patent issued in 1999 awarded NTP the
patent for industry standard store and forward email systems that
happen to use wireless (also standard) technologies and mobile
devices. This thing is a joke. It would be like me filing for GPS
uses in cars and be able to sue GM and Garmin for billions.

[Thunder Johny]

USPTO

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.analogstereo.com/chrysler_300_owners_manual.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.analogstereo.com/chrysler_300_owners_manual.htm</a>

[angie is dying]

Jealousy

So all the "get over it posters" seem to have one thing in common, "they see other people using the service."

BlackBerry is a great tool that has freed me up. Sure it's actually getting me to do more work, but it has allowed me to do the work the way I want to. I'm free to be away from my desk because the people who report to me can always reach me. Does this cut into my time away from the office? Yes, but the fact of the matter is without it that time away from the office would not exist.

This case is extremely over hyped. Shame on the journalist who opened his article Monday writing, "Al Qaeda couldn't take BlackBerry down but NTP could." Ridiculous.

Second, if RIM goes down, they all go down. The heart of this suit is the broadcast of email over wireless networks. The reason RIM and only RIM is a target is when NTP, which I suspect stands for "No True Product" filed the suit RIM was the only company successfully marketing such a product. Now 4 years later, NTP is using this case as the benchmark.

The list above is going to be equally subject to the outcome of the NTP case. Of the companies listed one has already settled. While they will all quickly settle in light of the RIM case, are the more likely to settle than RIM making them a better alternative? No. Does their service cost a bundle by comparison? Yes. Why the heck are listing Palm as an alternative, they are an equipment maker first, and second does not offer a product that broadcasts email over a wireless network. They make a product that is capable of checking POP or IMAP servers (pull email) through the wireless network, but it does not broadcast to the device (push email) unless using a separate server made by the other companies on the list.

[Joe Blow]

Blechburies are a Waste ...

of money, time and bandwidth. You can easily set up any more general-purpose PDA to do the same thing. What's the difference between polling a POP/IMAP server over a TCP/IP connection that's always on, or having an IM client running, vs. having crap "pushed" - which only happens when the server has cycled through to handle your messages in a big, fat queue, BTW - it's not as instantaneous as the Blechbury advertising propaganda would have you believe. Why do we, the public, have to set aside a separate chunk of the airwaves (that we collectively own, BTW) for Blechbury, Inc.? Open, standards-based, wireless, packet-switched communications have been around for over 30 years, and are the best use of scarce resources like radio spectrum bandwidth.

Every time I see some dweeb sitting around thumbing tripe into this kind of device (to interrupt their like-minded dweeb associates with said tripe), I have to wonder how much real productive commercial work, if not charity work, could be accomplished with the money wasted on these devices. The only reason things like this spread is because of small-minded "me-too" idiots jumping on a bandwagon just because it's the latest fad. It's no wonder the rest of the world is earning most of the technical degrees these days, and knows that there are more efficient technologies available than Blechberries.

I can't wait for the screens on all of those little boxes to go blank. We should make it a national holiday, at least for the day they die their well-deserved death. Come to think of it, all those dweebs will effectively wind up on a holiday, since they apparently won't have any way to contact anyone else. Gee, what about all those SMS and text-enabled cell phones and PDAs that they're carrying around, too (that generally come with e-mail with any kind of business plan)?

Long live open, standards-based, wireless, packet-switched communications services!

All the Best to Everyone but Blechbury Users,
Joe Blow