BlackBerry lives

RIM8217;s decision to settle was immediately welcomed by customers and investors; its shares rose as much as 19 per cent, to 85.40, in after-hours trading. But RIM8217;s executives seemed less enthusiastic. 8216;8216;No question, we took one for the team here,8217;8217; RIM8217;s chairman and co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie, said. He added that it was 8216;8216;not a good feeling to write this kind of check.8217;8217;

If the injunction had been imposed, the best case for RIM8217;s customers would have been the installation of alternative e-mail software that, according to RIM, would have worked around NTP8217;s patent claims. But the process would have been costly, time-consuming and, RIM8217;s assertions aside, still clouded by legal questions.

8216;8216;There8217;s been a collective sigh of relief,8217;8217; said Ellen Dailey, an analyst with Forrester Research. 8216;8216;RIM knew that by not settling they were going to put tremendous pressure on their customers.8217;8217;

John Sicher, the publisher and editor of Beverage Digest and a BlackBerry user for about three years said he was relieved as he could 8220;now stop his search for alternatives8217;8217;. Large corporate BlackBerry users were also happy. 8212; NYT