BMW is First Automaker with BlackBerry Address Book Integration

[LeMansX5]

ONLY in Canada though.
BMW Blackberry Address book Integration

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by LeMansX5

ONLY in Canada though.
BMW Blackberry Address book Integration

What's the difference between USA and Canadian bluetooth? Or is the difference with the Blackberry?

[JCL]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

What's the difference between USA and Canadian bluetooth? Or is the difference with the Blackberry?

The difference is BMW. Despite the name, BMW North America isn't really North American. We have BMW of Canada. It is the difference in the distributor.

[B&DCalgary]

Sounds as though until RIM resolves things with the patent squatter in the U.S., BMW is reluctant to add the Blackberry functionality in the U.S. market. The most recent thing I heard was that a judge had thrown out the patent claim, so maybe that's the beginning of the end for all the bull$hit that's been going on recently, and things can get back to business as usual.

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by B&DCalgary

Sounds as though until RIM resolves things with the patent squatter in the U.S., BMW is reluctant to add the Blackberry functionality in the U.S. market. The most recent thing I heard was that a judge had thrown out the patent claim, so maybe that's the beginning of the end for all the bull$hit that's been going on recently, and things can get back to business as usual.

Actually it went the other way, the patent claim was held up and they're supposedly negotiating how much $$$$ will change hands. If they don't come to an agreement before the appeal is heard, they're in deep trouble as they will almost certainly lose the appeal (again). One of the benefits of the US government using BBerry's is that it will make it harder for a Federal judge to order the system shut down as part of the ruling. From what I've read, they can't selectively shut down parts of the system, it's all or none.

[B&DCalgary]

Originally Posted by gresch

Actually it went the other way, the patent claim was held up and they're supposedly negotiating how much $$$$ will change hands.

Hmmmm... I'm pretty sure I read last week that the latest development was that the patent itself (not the claim) had been rescinded, making the claim moot. I'll have to look back and see if I misread it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, I was right. It just happened. The U.S. Patent Office itself came to the conclusion that the NTP patents were invalid, which means the judge's previous ruling against RIM is no longer valid. Here's an excerpt from an article from four days ago.

Patent office backs RIM
12/21/2005 11:10:39 AM, by Nate Anderson

The twisting saga of the patent infingement case between Research in Motion (RIM) and patent holding firm NTP took another strange step forward this week as the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) enagaged an unusual postal beatdown of NTP's patent claims. In a letter sent to both firms, the USPTO announced that all five of NTP's contested patents had been preliminarily overturned, and that the decision was likely to become final early next year. That giant whooshing sound you hear is BlackBerry users everywhere breathing a collective sigh of relief.

[LeMansX5]

RIM Chairman Hails Patent Office Decision