Is this the end of the BlackBerry line?
If you’ve been following the court battle between Virginia based NTP, Inc. and the Canadian tech firm Research in Motion (makers of the BlackBerry), you know that things are really heating up to the point that the BlackBerry service is in danger of being shutdown throughout the entire U.S.
If you haven’t heard about this until now, it’s basically a dispute between the makers of the BlackBerry and a company that owns a patent on which it feels the BlackBerry is infringing.
Being the tech nut that I am, I read a lot of articles bemoaning the broken state of the patent industry in this country. Patents are being issued for things almost as obvious as breathing (OK, maybe not quite, but I am sure somebody will try it.). Take for example, Amazon’s application for a patent on collecting buyer feedback.
You heard it right. Amazon is applying for a patent on customers submitting feedback so that other potential customers can read it. Oh yeah, and they invented that revolutionary idea on December 31, of 2003.
Right.
I am sure some legal experts would argue with my over generalization here, but really I am just trying to make a point.
Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast…
Basically, the BlackBerry folks decided to ignore the letters from NTP over the past few years about the patent infringement. When things finally made it to the courtroom, Research in Motion (the BlackBerry company) pulled some pretty sly courtroom tricks that got them in hot water with the judge.
So that leaves us just weeks away from a possible BlackBerry shutdown.
So what’s a real estate professional to do?
In a word… nothing.
My recommendation is that you focus on real estate and don’t give the whole BlackBerry thing another thought.
Despite the fact that this debacle involves some pretty big egos (this whole mess could have been settled years ago for a few million dollars if egos weren’t involved), what it really boils down to is money. Big surprise.
NTP, Inc. believes they are entitled to a lot of it.
Jerry Knight, business columnist for the Washington Post has a good point on why this whole thing will blow over.
If money is truly what NTP, Inc. is after (and it seems to be), then shutting down the BlackBerry service isn’t going to help them get any more of it. You can read Jerry’s article here.
I personally own a Blackberry and I use it every day. It is my way of keeping in contact with my clients whenever I need to be. It is important to my business and I would hate to see it go.
Sure it would be an inconvenience to have your Blackberry stop working and have to go find a replacement, but I am sure you deal with (and overcome) bigger problems than that every day in your real estate business.
So I say forget about it and refocus your attention on the things that will actually make you money, like getting leads and listings.
Technology comes and goes, being a smart business person is what really counts.
