Thursday, December 15, 2005

Blackberry under even more threat!

RIM's Blackberry has been further challenged as NTP has reached an agreement that allows privately held e-mail startup Visto to license NTP's technology for sending wireless e-mail, the same technology that's at the center of the patent dispute with RIM, owner of Blackberry. That makes three competitors, including Nokia and Good Technology, that are now NTP licensees. NTP also bought a stake in Visto.

This puts even more pressure than ever on Blackberry. Now NTP is not just a patent owner that is trying to make money by challenging RIM (and others), but it is a patent owner with an investment in businesses that compete directly with RIM's Blackberry.

This gives NTP a double benefit: a) they have likely strengthened their case against RIM and increased the value of a likely settlement and b) they can benefit directly from the concern that the market has over the whole dispute. Customers that are getting twitchy about Blackberry's patent dispute are likely to shift to the Visto's of this world.

NTP is proving smarter than many thought and could be providing interesting precedents for future patent shell companies. Of course the biggest benefactors in this whole battle are Microsoft and Nokia who must be laughing all the way to the bank. RIM has to settle this thing and settle it fast or they could end up stuffing it up for the Blackberry short, medium and long term.

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