BlackBerry Once Again in Jeopardy as SC Declines RIM Case

TechNewsWorld reports that "for the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Research In Motion, which was hoping to overturn a lower court ruling that could lead to the demise of its BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the U.S."

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney believes "a settlement is still seen as the most likely outcome. However, even if a settlement is not reached, RIM may be able to save its BlackBerry service in the U.S. by implementing a work-around, though there is skepticims over how well such a bypass would work."

According to the article, Gartner group "has already advised clients considering large-scale BlackBerry deployments to wait for the case to resolve itself, if possible. Many businesses appear to have heeded that counsel, as evidenced by RIM's weaker third-quarter results in December.

Dulaney said, "There will be time to react, but it's important to plan for the contingencies ahead of time."

Regarding the increased competition in the mobile email space, telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said, "It doesn't get any easier for RIM because more companies want that mobile-messaging business. The market they had to themselves is now something everyone wants a piece of."