Apart from all the other reasons, remember that there is a court decision that will soon require RIM to shut off service to all but those Blackberries used by Federal Government employees and possibly Public Safety responders.

I AGREE!!!!
Nobody says you HAVE to look at the email everytime it comes in but its great when you need to. I would stop a bit short of saying it is a decent web browser though.

Want to bet?

Blackberry is quite addictive.

After I left my company, I went through a lot of trouble to find a thrid party provider that could handle the service for me (www.mailstreet.com).

YES...If you can get a BlackBerry.

Ruling Puts BlackBerry Maker at Crossroads
Patent Settlement Invalidated; Service Could Be Stopped

By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 1, 2005; Page D01

The maker of the popular BlackBerry e-mail device is facing a critical decision: Pony up a lot of money to settle a long-term patent dispute or inform most of its 3.65 million U.S. subscribers that it may have to shut off service.

The company, Research in Motion Ltd., was dealt legal blows yesterday when a judge invalidated an earlier settlement with Arlington-based NTP Inc., which holds the patents to the wireless technology. The judge also declined to stay a permanent injunction, which means BlackBerry service could face a shutdown of its operations in coming months.

The Department of Justice has asked for a 90-day grace period for federal workers if Research in Motion's BlackBerry e-mail service is shut down.

"This is the end of the line," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst with research firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. "RIM kept betting that it would get lucky, but they kept losing every time a decision came up. This is about the worst possible outcome for them."

RIM says it is working on a technology work-around that would maintain service, but it has not provided details.

As the company finds itself on the losing side of a four-year court battle that seems to be coming to an end, fear of going dark spread among BlackBerry loyalists who rely heavily on their devices. In a statement, the company pledged to wage arguments against an injunction but said "there can never be an assurance of a favorable outcome in any litigation."

In coming weeks, RIM's fate lies in the hands of Judge James R. Spencer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, who will hear the parties' arguments and decide whether to grant NTP an injunction, which could give RIM as little as 30 days to settle the case before service would shut down for U.S. customers. About 70 percent of the company's subscribers are in the United States. Service to subscribers in other countries would not be affected by the ruling.

NTP, which first filed its patent-infringement suit in 2001, has said it will not cut off service for government and emergency workers, who make up about 10 percent of RIM's user base. The Department of Justice has asked for a 90-day grace period to ensure continued service to government users.

Because Spencer's language in yesterday's decision suggests that he will issue the injunction, RIM may have to pay about $2 billion in cash and stock to NTP to settle the case and keep the service turned on, said Pablo Perez-Fernandez, senior analyst with ThinkEquity Partners LLC, a research and investment firm. "They don't have much of an option at this point."

In June, RIM and NTP's talks proposing a $450 million settlement broke down. RIM declined to discuss its willingness to enter new talks, but NTP attorney James Wallace said, "We would hope [yesterday's] development would bring them back to the table."

As of August, NTP is also due $210 million in damages from RIM for patent infringement, a penalty that increases by about $9 million every month, Wallace said.

1) The patent infringement suit has been underway for some time, and threats of the service being shut down have been commonplace for (literally) years. I'm not worried.

2) I LOVE my blackberry. Don't treat it like a leash, treat it like a liberator. I know, in a few minutes of looking (while in a cab, at dinner, waiting for a flight) if there is any sort of "fire" that I need to get involved in, and whethere there is anything of any import in email worthy to fire up the laptop and dive in. I no longer log in via laptop just to see if there's anything I need to get involved in -- this is worth carrying the darn thing around.

I have a 7230, and like it fine (the first color "BlueBerry"). My wife has the 7105t (the newer phone looking one). The phone looking one seems to be a fine phone, and a poor blackberry. The 7230, the other way 'round.

YMMV.

Agreed. The case will settle or there will be a service "design-around". The decision about to get one or not really turns on your relationship to email. I am in professinal services, so it is a plus for me to be able to respond to clients at the drop of a hat, even when on vacation. But I don't get the same sort of "FYI" emails that, say, a middle manager would get. If I were in that situation, I absolutely would not get one.

Ditto. I'll put money on that.

You know what...now that I think of it, I should check to see if Tradesports has a contract on this...

That a "yes" or a "no"?

I would love to have a blackberry, but I don't want to deal with the size. Even the smaller ones are still much bigger than my cell phone, which I carry in my front pocket. I'll probably break down one day, since I would love the convenience.

Think of it as a tool that empowers you to stay connected with very little overhead: no need to carry a laptop just for email, no need to log in, ability to get phone calls and email on one device.

If you're able to quickly check and return an important email, you'll be less reliant on staying at your desk.\

My boss doesn't know whether I'm chained to my desk or standing on the first tee when he emails me and I shoot a response back.

Stories like that create uncertainty, which chill the marketplace. If you think the risk is low, then you ignore it. If you think the risk is high, you buy a Treo or you defer a decision. It also depends on whether it's your company's money, or your own.

What are the costs of getting set up with a BB? My company is saying its $2000+ for all the software & licenses. Does this sound right?

BlackBerry re-hab...

http://www.hyatt.com/gallery/stillwa...lty_urban.html

Blackberry Hand Massage 30 Minutes - $80
A helping hand for tech-savvy business travelers experiencing "blue thumb" from their blackberrys and tenderness from their Treos. This massage focuses on easing tension on various hand and arm muscles, specifically in the thumb and overworked wrist area.

have you considered a pocket pc such as the PPC-6700 from sprint? while it doesn't have blackberry service, it can sync to an exchange server if the exchange server is configured correctly. or, if your company offers an outlook web portal, you can surf right to it on the internet.

additionally, it offers the following:
full ie browser (not available with blackberry)
wifi (not available with blackberry until release of razrberry or Q)
bluetooth
EVDO highspeed (much faster than cingular EDGE)
ability to be used as a usb modem for your laptop on the 1xRTT or EVDO networks (not available with blackberry)
good availability of programs and apps

doesn't get much better/worse than sitting in an RCC instant messaging on the RCC wifi, being VPN'd into the company network on the EVDO service, and talking on the phone at the same time.