The BlackBerry Infringing on Other Technologies?

windwaker writes "The maker of the popular BlackBerry waits to see if he's infringing on eight other patents. If this is true, future BlackBerrys will have to be licensed differently, to compensate for the infringement."

Comments

Blackberries

[Andrewkov]

From a support perspective, these Blackberries have been a nightmare for us. The well publicised RIM server problems (which my users think is *my* fault), problems with the synchronization software on Windows, problems integrating with Lotus Notes, how fragile the units are (I had a user break 2 LCD screens in one week by dropping them), and problems ungrading to newer models.. If RIM gets sued into oblivion and we stop using the damn Blackberries, that would make my day.

Re:Blackberries

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to agree with the previous posters. Blackberries haven't been much of a problem at all (compared to supporting other wireless devices). At least there's a full end-to-end solution, and I can centrally manage everything really easily. And security problems aren't as much of an issue - no cameras, etc.

Plus I can't live without my Idokorro software for mobile end user support :)

Re:Blackberries

[Raeth]

Blackberries are a major part of our companies' communications strategy. We have about 700 blackberries deployed among 1200 users. We also went thru a notes to exchange migration about 1.5 years ago. I agree with a lot of what you said - BB's under notes are kindof a PITA. They do seem to work somewhat better under exchange tho. I DO agree that these things are fragile: we've probably replaced 200 of these things in the past year or two. I'd have to add that this is dependant on the users - most users have the same one they've always had, but some users.... *cough*likemyboss*cough* are on their 5th or 6th.

Re:Blackberries

[Jack Johnson]

From a support perspective, these Blackberries have been a nightmare for us. The well publicised RIM server problems (which my users think is *my* fault), problems with the synchronization software on Windows, problems integrating with Lotus Notes, how fragile the units are (I had a user break 2 LCD screens in one week by dropping them), and problems ungrading to newer models.. If RIM gets sued into oblivion and we stop using the damn Blackberries, that would make my day.

My experience with deploying Blackberries and BES has been very smooth. RIM's documentation and support are very good. However, I would like debug logs explained in detail. I've asked RIM for this specifically and they pointed me to a 1 day class which can't possible provide what I'm looking for.

I agree wholeheartedly about the BB's fragility. I dropped one less than 18 inches while tying my shoe the other day...cracked screen. In contrast, my Sanyo phone has been dropped on the pavement from a full sprint, kicked down the street, sat on and stepped on without skipping a beat.

Re:Blackberries

[Anonymous Coward]

"From a support perspective, these Blackberries have been a nightmare for us."

We've got close to 40 blackberries from Sprint, Nextel, and Verizon. And a whole slew of the different models.

We use Lotus Notes and have our own BES Server.

And I have to say we have had almost no problems with it.

They are really easy to setup run with.

Sounds like maybe you don't have a BES server and if that's the case don't make other people believe that Blackberry's are problems just because you have service issues with RIM.

Re:Patent companies

[spamfiltertest]

Forgive me - but RIM actually produces a product (IE - blackberry, suretype). They are not just sitting around thinking of vague ideas, they are actually doing something, where as NTP is not. I do not know what other patents they have submitted, and what they are sitting on and not producing, but to call them an pure IP shop (like NTP) is incorrect.