BlackBerry users take stock as NTP threat is lifted

摘要

Research In Motion, the Waterloo, Ontario provider of the push-e-mail service and announced its agreement with patent holder NTP to make a one-time payment of $US612.5 million in exchange for a licence agreement earlier this month. Several vendors who have developed software products and services around the BlackBerry expressed relief and a hope that the settlement would answer the anxious questions they have been getting from customers. Carmy Levi, an analyst with London, Ont.-based Info-Tech Research, said RIM's biggest threat after NTP is Microsoft, which has been shipping a platform that's mature enough to compete feature-for-feature with the BlackBerry, and Nokia, which last year bought Intellisync in part to provide an alternative to RIM's service. Overall, however, he said most users are sticking by the BlackBerry.