RIM Gets Hit Hard in NTP Patent Case

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/11/30/rim-blackberry-balsillie-cx_de_1130autofacescan07.html

"Judge James Spencer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to delay the proceedings any further, or to hold the companies to their previous settlement. The decision means that RIM might have to pay out big bucks to settle the case. If they don't, Spencer could enforce an injunction banning BlackBerry sales in the US. That would cripple RIM's business, cutting it off from the market that provides 70% of its sales. Earlier this month, RIM Co-Chief Executive James Balsillie said that the company had developed a workaround for the service that would not violate any contested patents. But the fix has yet to be publicly demonstrated, and even if it does work, it could be costly, inefficient and still result in service blackouts. Observers of the case say that with the threat of a shutdown looming, RIM might have to pay out a billion dollars or more to settle the case."

The timing of this couldn't be any better for Microsoft. If they could just get the last piece of the always-on email solution out the door, they could pick-up a lot of disgruntled RIM users.

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/11/30/rim-blackberry-balsillie-cx_de_1130autofacescan07.html

"Judge James Spencer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to delay the proceedings any further, or to hold the companies to their previous settlement. The decision means that RIM might have to pay out big bucks to settle the case. If they don't, Spencer could enforce an injunction banning BlackBerry sales in the US. That would cripple RIM's business, cutting it off from the market that provides 70% of its sales. Earlier this month, RIM Co-Chief Executive James Balsillie said that the company had developed a workaround for the service that would not violate any contested patents. But the fix has yet to be publicly demonstrated, and even if it does work, it could be costly, inefficient and still result in service blackouts. Observers of the case say that with the threat of a shutdown looming, RIM might have to pay out a billion dollars or more to settle the case."

The timing of this couldn't be any better for Microsoft. If they could just get the last piece of the always-on email solution out the door, they could pick-up a lot of disgruntled RIM users.

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Mike Temporale

The timing of this couldn't be any better for Microsoft. If they could just get the last piece of the always-on email solution out the door, they could pick-up a lot of disgruntled RIM users.

I don't know... The RIM users aren't "disgruntled" at RIM per se. Considering the IT challenge in switching, while this may eventually help Microsoft long-term I don't think it'll have an immediate effect unless the network is completely shut down.

--janak

[Kris Kumar]

Personally I think it would be sad if Microsoft wins the match over RIM in a court verdict.

Let's play it fair and square.

Treo would be a good add. In US Microsoft needs more visibility in the mobile space. More carriers need to offer Windows Mobile devices.