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The History Of BlackBerry Phones

By: William Gold

BlackBerry's first started life in 1999 as two-way pagers, and it wasn't until 2002 that their form factor evolved into the more familiar wireless hand held devices known today. Despite first making its name in the marketplace by focusing on e-mail, they are now full-featured smartphones, or convergent devices, so-called because of all the various technologies converging in one device. For example, the device support push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing, and other wireless information services through a multi-touch interface.

Made by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), the device delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies. While original phones had monochrome displays, today's models feature colorful ones. Though providing PDA applications as well as telephone capabilities on newer models, the devices are primarily known for their ability to send and receive e-mail wherever it can access the wireless network of a cellular phone carrier. They have built-in QWERTY keyboards optimized for "thumbing" or the use of only the thumbs to type. General navigation is mostly accomplished by a scroll or trackball. Some models also incorporate Push-to-Talk (PTT) technology, allowing the devices to be used, in effect, as two-way radios.

In 2000, the patent holding company NTP sent notice of their wireless e-mail patents to a number of companies and offered to license the patents to them, including RIM. RIM refused, and NTP brought a patent infringement lawsuit against it in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The jury eventually found that NTP's patents were valid, that RIM had willfully infringed them, that the infringement had cost NTP $33 million dollars missed royalties. The judge, however, increased the damages to $53 million as a punitive measure because the infringement had been willful. He also ordered RIM to pay NTP's $4.5 million legal fee and issued an injunction ordering RIM to cease and desist infringing the patents, which would have meant shutting down the company in America.

RIM appealed the rulings, which were stayed pending the outcome of those appeals. In the meantime, RIM and NTP tried to negotiate a settlement, with compensation up to $450 million being discussed before talks broke down again and the matter returned to the courts. Between a lot of legal drama over the next few years involving none less than the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Defense, as the phones were used by a large number of government employees and their shut-down could threaten national security the two companies eventually reached a settlement of $612.5 million, a sum considered low because it made no provisions for any future royalties.

Article Source: http://www.newarticledaily.com

Article by William Gold. He writes about the history of BlackBerry cell phones. For a GSM cell phone visit www.cellkraze.com they have the lowest prices and best selection on the web.

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