Gartner: A Shift on BlackBerry

Dan Taylor at Mobile Enterprise Weblog has been providing some excellent commentary about the RIM vs NTP patent situation. He points out a research note from Gartner (application/pdf Object) that advises its clients to "place mission-critical BlackBerry deployments on hold until RIM's legal position is clarified."

The note by analysts Ken Dulaney, Monica Basso, Todd Kort and Martin Reynolds provides Gartner's take on the recent rulings in the case and makes the following recommendations for current and prospective RIM customers:

• Stop or delay all mission-critical BlackBerry deployments and investments in the platform until RIM's legal position is clarified.
• Demand that RIM's work-around plans be made available — in detail and in public — and carefully review their legal and operational impact. Gartner advises customers not to sign any agreements that could involve them in the RIM/NTP dispute.
• Consider alternative solutions for mission-critical applications, but recognize that these offerings, too, may face the threat of NTP patent infringement claims. (One solution that is probably not subject to possible NTP claims is the use of laptops with wireless cards, which could be implemented quickly and at low cost.) Recognize that alternative solutions could cause transition costs that will be unnecessary if the case is settled. If your applications are not mission-critical, you may choose to take no action as this time, but should still assess the potential impact of operation outages of unknown duration.