RIM unruffled over Nokia's Intellisync buy

Research In Motion is not interested in topping Nokia's $430 million bid for wireless e-mail company Intellisync, RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said Wednesday.

Balsillie, whose company makes the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, said he is not worried about any direct competition from Nokia as a result of the acquisition, even though San Jose, Calif.-based Intellisync develops wireless messaging and e-mail technology.

Finland-based Nokia is committed to offering RIM's e-mail service over its devices through RIM's BlackBerry Connect program, Balsillie said during the UBS Global Communications conference in New York.

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Nokia takes on RIM in mobile enterprise

Nokia will acquire wireless specialist Intellisync as it tries to be the one-stop shop for corporate mobility.

Nokia and RIM both offer a messaging and wireless solution as well as handsets to be used with the service. Other companies, such as Microsoft, Palm and Motorola, also are targeting this market with their own wireless e-mail products.

Despite Balsillie's cool stance, analysts said Nokia's purchase of Intellisync is a shot across the bow primarily aimed at RIM.

"Even though Nokia has licensed the Blackberry Connect software from RIM to make the new devices compatible with the Blackberry Enterprise Server--approximately 60,000 installed worldwide--it nevertheless doesn't provide Nokia the real revenue opportunity that a server software sale would," said Jack Gold, founder and industry analyst at J.Gold Associates.

The effect of the acquisition on Microsoft is somewhat more subdued, he added.

"Nokia has licensed ActiveSync to embed in some Microsoft devices to enable push e-mail directly from Exchange without the need for a middleware product," Gold said. "However, this functionality only works for the most current version of Exchange, which is still a small amount of the total installs of Exchange servers."

A Microsoft representative was not immediately available to comment.

But in a world where carriers can literally mix and match mobile hardware and software, Gartner analyst Michael King wonders if RIM will be able to respond as competitively.

"Long term, you could very likely see a Nokia device with a RIM base client but with an Intellisync e-mail or a Microsoft device with Intellisync device management and an RIM e-mail client," King said.

Balsillie also reiterated that RIM's customers can be reassured "that there won't be an interruption of service" if a court issues an injunction to shut down its service in the United States as part its legal battle with NTP.

The co-CEO said that RIM has a " workaround" it believes will skirt the NTP patents at the center of the court case.

He said RIM has not implemented the workaround sooner because it has just been completed. He added that the company has been extra conservative in ensuring that it does not infringe on any of NTP's patents.

"It's a software upgrade that we're very, very comfortable with and we've done focus groups with and we're just finishing testing," Balsillie told investors in New York.

Balsillie declined to comment on whether the proposed "workaround" and recent U.S. Patent Office rulings have made RIM less likely to settle with NTP.

Reuters contributed to this report.

[Bankster]

RIM Not Ruffled - Yea Right

It sounds like someone is asleep at the wheel at Research in Slow Motion. I can?t figure out if they?re arrogant or just plain stupid. Every handset manufacturer in the world has developed their own ?Blackberry Killer?, NTP will soon neuter RIM?s Canadian based servers and charge RIM $450 million dollars for the pleasure, RIM doesn?t have the patents needed to protect their core business and get this, Jim Balsillie, Rim's chairman and co-CEO said he?s not worried about any direct competition from Nokia as a result of its? acquisition of Intellisync for $600 million Dollars ? Maybe Jim should take a look at Intellisync?s patent portfolio before he says something else stupid, Furthermore it?s common knowledge that Nokia milks their partners long enough to create their own cash cow. At some point Nokia will say Bye Bye Blackberry.

Speaking of Nokia, first they come up with a Blackberry Killer and then they trump Qualcomm by buying Intellisync. Not only does Intellisync have a huge patent portfolio, they are also the company behind the curtain that powers Qualcomm?s Blackberry killer, Eudora2Go. Hence, Nokia owns the first Blackberry killer killer - Way to go Nokia! You just have to hand it to those Finns, It must be the daily saunas, beer and sausages. What?s Nokia?s next move? Well, rumor has it that they?re talking to McColl partners and McColl is managing the sale of Wireless2web?s messaging patent portfolio. In addition, don?t be surprised if the Nokia / Broadcom relationship gets even more interwoven.

As for Qualcomm, don?t underestimate these guys either. If it?s all about patents (it sure seems to be) then that?s what Qualcomm does best. They buy Flarion for $600 million dollars, including its extensive patent portfolio to protect MediaFLO and to enhance future wireless offerings. They buy Elata for 57 million dollars, including its patents covering software infrastructure for organizing and controlling content such as ringtones, wallpaper graphics and applications for GSM and WCDMA. Then they sue anyone and everyone that dare cross their infringement line. What are they up to? That?s simple, protect the patents they have, create more patents and buy the patents they didn?t invent. More specifically, they will build up their WCDMA patent portfolio before anything hits the fan in Europe and then everyone will stop moaning that Qualcomm has less WCDMA patents than CDMA patents yet they charge the same price. And, they won?t stop there. Qualcomm is well aware that 8 out of 10 Cell Phone Customers Choose GSM Service. Therefore, expect their GSM patent portfolio to grow by buying what is too late to invent. Get ready Europe; you?re going to pay the Qualcomm piper for CDMA, WCDMA and GSM too ? Ouch.

Then there?s Microsoft the very late-comer to mobile wireless. Bill wants inside those phones and he wants it with a passion. The problem is he?s not sure how to catch up with the pack. Microsoft has only a few wireless patents (not worth describing) and they are too late to buy what they need.. Plus, they don?t have a large mobile phone embedded base. Consequently, they don?t have a monopoly ? Maybe there is a Santa after all. With that said, Microsoft is leveraging its strengths, namely its? Exchange server 2003 Sp2 and its? media players and digital rights management. It?s no stretch to say that Microsoft is strong in these areas but they do not have a monopoly. As far as their media player and DRM, there is always RealNetworks to keep Microsoft honest. On the server side, Microsoft has a very large installed base. Therefore, Bill intents to make his play from the server side. Once Microsoft becomes the de facto standard they will start tightening the screws -The old my client works better than yours trick. Microsoft?s problem will be its? lack of patent protection and at some point they?ll get sued, pay the tax and keep the ball rolling, and so on.

Then there is Broadcom, TI, Intel, Samsung, LG and the list goes on. Who will win the wireless messaging and multimedia war? I don?t know but it won?t be RIM because it?s all about the patents.

Regards