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Open Thread: Whither Blackberry? What's your fallback plan?

BlackBerry shutdown closer after ruling - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal judge has rejected an effort by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. to settle a patent case and moved a step closer to reissuing an injunction that threatens the device’s e-mail service in the United States.

RIM said in a statement that it has been preparing technology that would keep its service running in the U.S., where most of its 3.65 million BlackBerry customers are based.

[ via Slashdot ]


Damn, this could be pretty big stuff, eh?

I'm guessing at least a few of you out there are rabid Blackberry users -- I've never even used one myself, but I have friends who live on theirs. So, I'm curious: How do you feel about the possibility of losing Blackberry service? If it went away today, what would you use instead? Do you have a fallback plan?

eric Lin's picture

as an actually professional in...

as an actually professional in the phone industry i thought i'd weigh in with a few thoughts. first off, jamie is correct above. there is no way blackberry service will cease to exist. further more, it's unlikely that an injunction will be issued to even temporarily suspend blackberry service in the US. too many mission critical systems rely on it including the federal government and congress. basically everyone but the president uses a blackberry. there is no way a district judge would so flagrantly disrupt the working of the federal government, the US attourney general's office even weighed in and told the judge an injunction would be a bad idea.

the other thing most people are ignoring is that the USPTO is finally evaluating NTP's patents and seem to be striking them down one by one. it's unlikely NTP will be left with any leg to stand on by the time the case even hits the courts unless the judge's schedule is so empty he can start the trial next. even so at most he'll levy a fine which RIM will simply contest once NTP's patents are no longer valid (the USPTO already issued a preliminary judgement admitting the patents were not valid.)

so have no fear. keep using your blackberries, and check out some of the new ones. the new 8700 is smaller, more powerful, and more feature rich. it really could help you get things done.

 
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