CrackBerry No More?

Computerworld - Sometime in the next few days, the heads of BlackBerry users will explode. Like zombies, they'll roam blindly, thumbs still twitching as their headless bodies wander the streets searching in vain for messages that never come -- all this because Research In Motion's addictive wireless e-mail service has been turned off due to a patent dispute.
Sound unlikely? You obviously haven't read recent BlackBerry news coverage. Every story talks up how a BlackBerry shutdown is imminent, how users can't live without them and how their world is about to come to a nightmarish end.
It makes a great story. But it's not going to happen.
Not this week. Not in the next month. Not until late March at the earliest. And probably not ever.
There are going to be some unpleasant bumps coming soon for BlackBerry users. You need to be ready for them if you issue BlackBerries to your users -- or if some of your users have become "CrackBerry" addicts on their own. But there's no crisis, no imminent shutdown, no impending doom.
Emergencies make great headlines. But this time, there's no emergency.
Here's what will happen: On Feb. 1, the much-ballyhooed court deadline, RIM and patent- holding company NTP Inc. will file legal paperwork. On Feb. 24, they'll argue before a judge over whether RIM must stop selling and providing services for BlackBerry users in the U.S., which the court already found infringes several patents owned by NTP.
The judge is likely to rule in NTP's favor. When? Maybe on Feb. 24, maybe later. After that, no sooner than 30 days after the ruling, RIM will have to stop using NTP's technology. That puts the earliest possible BlackBerry drop-dead date at March 26 -- just about eight weeks from now.
RIM is asking the court for more time. RIM also says it can sidestep NTP's patents with a software patch that users will have to apply before the drop-dead date. NTP may object that the patch still infringes its patents, but that will take another round of court hearings to decide. That pushes any total BlackBerry shutdown even further out.
Eventually, NTP's patents may be officially voided. But that won't happen until October, if at all, and NTP's appeals could run on for years. Much sooner than that, NTP and RIM will probably hash out a settlement, as they almost managed to do last year.
But for now, you've got at least eight weeks. That's no emergency. But it is an opportunity.
What should you do? Start