Detractors of BlackBerry see further troubles 

The New York Times takes a look at Blackberry maker, Research In Motion after it's huge financial settlement of a patent dispute,and has analysts saying that there may be more problemas on the horizon for RIM.

For years,says the newspaper in its 6 March report,Wall Street loved just about everything about Research in Motion except the onerous, lingering infringement lawsuit filed by NTP, a patent holding company, over RIM's wireless e-mail system.

The newspaper says that RIM might have thought that settling with NTP last Friday for US$612.5 million '” and the widespread relief among BlackBerry enthusiasts that service would not be suspended '” would give them some breathing room with investors and analysts.

However, according to the NYT, some think otherwise. "The patent case was a whole bunch of noise," said Ellen Dailey, a Forrester Research analyst. "Right now, R.I.M. is in danger of relegating itself to becoming a niche e-mail player."

The newspaper quotes Jupiter Research as echoing that view,and commenting that the lawsuit was an active threat to RIM.,but that they now have to face other, long-term challenges. Microsoft, says Jupiter, appears determined to be a serious competitor in its markets, reports the NYT.

According to the NYT., these reactions are familiar ones for RIM., a onetime upstart that has received only limited respect, even after signing up about 3.2 million Americans, 70 percent of the United States market for wireless e-mail. Almost from the beginning of the BlackBerry, forecasters have predicted that its maker, based in Ontario, would be swept away by larger competitors, particularly Microsoft.

The newspaper reports that James L. Balsillie, the chairman of RIM., agrees with critics and some competitors that broader changes, including the long-delayed arrival of higher-speed wireless networks and a renewed mobile software effort from Microsoft, will force growth and changes in the market for wireless hand-held devices.

The NYT reports that, according to analysts,What is now at issue are the questions of where new wireless e-mail customers will come from and what kind of additional services they may demand.

The bulk of RIM.'s business, says the newspaper, has come from corporate information technology departments and as senior executives demanded BlackBerries, RIM focused on creating a closed, easy-to-install system that featured high security so that computer systems managers had little excuse for denying their bosses' requests.

But, says the NYT., most people in the wireless business, including those at RIM., recognise that future growth will have to come from outside the executive suites. And RIM's competitors hope that as wireless e-mail moves down corporate ranks to delivery vans and field-service technicians, customers will be looking for the kind of PC-like applications that BlackBerries do not offer.

{mospagebreaktitle=Cisco, Microsoft to collaborate on tools}Cisco, Microsoft to collaborate on tools

Cisco Systems, the world's largest network equipment maker, has said on it is partnering with Microsoft to create a package of communications tools geared for businesses.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (6 March) that as part of its efforts to diversify and expand its revenue stream, Cisco is launching the ''Cisco Unified Communications'' system that will integrate voice, data and video products and applications.

The AP report says that the overall package includes 30 products, most of which are enhancements or updates to existing technologies. But three of them are entirely new:

-- The Cisco Unified Presence Server collects information about a user's availability status (such as whether they're on the phone or on a computer at any given time).

-- The Cisco Unified Client, a program that allows users to make desktop video calls as well as sort, view and play messages on their PCs.

-- The Cisco Unified Customer Interaction Analyser, a service that can be used in contact centers, which can analyze the tone of a customer's voice as well as how and where to route a call.

AP says that the two companies will work together to integrate Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and Microsoft Office Live Communications technologies with Cisco's Unified Communications System.

{mospagebreaktitle=Next-generation video iPod spotted on web: report}Next-generation video iPod spotted on web: report

Tantalising photos of what appears to be the video-optimised next-generation iPod have surfaced on the web, according to a 6 March report by The register.

According to The Register, past pictures have been exposed as fakes, but if the new set of shots are hoax images, they're very good ones: they clearly show the device's rumoured virtual UI, including a shot in regular music mode, the publication reports.

The Register says that the images were originally sent to website MacShrine, but that site appears to have been temporarily suspended, but the shots are mirrored at the Gallery of Video iPod Mockups.

The UK publication's report says that the new images, shown mounted in a iPod Hi-Fi, shows the device in movie mode, complete with virtual UI, sitting alongside an iPod Nano.

{mospagebreaktitle=AT&T back together again}AT&T back together again

The United States' former telecomms monopoly, AT&T, looks set to reassemble itself, only 22 years after being broken up by a historic anti-trust action - and less than ten years since Congress permitted the 'Baby Bells' to merge, according to a report in The Register (6 March).

The Register says that AT&T and BellSouth have announced their intention to join forces in a deal worth US$67 billion.

In reality, according to The Register, AT&T is using stock to buy out the largest remaining legacy of the RBOCs. SBC, an amalgamation of Baby Bells that covers 13 states stretching from coast to coast, including Texas, California, Illinois and Ohio, bought AT&T for US$16 billion last year, and adopted the AT&T name.

The Reghister says that, in addition to controlling 23 states, the new AT&T will own 100 per cent of Cingular Wireless, the largest cellular carrier in the US. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless two years ago, after it had been spun out from AT&T in 2001.

{mospagebreaktitle=Cellphones cut into radio listening: US study}Cellphones cut into radio listening: US study

In the US, a recent study confirms a fear long held by radio broadcasters: cellphone use is cutting into radio listening by commuters.

The New York Times reports (6 March) that the study, done by the firm Bridge Ratings, found that commuters who use their phones in the car and drive an hour or more a day listened to the radio for 32 minutes a day in 2003, compared with 26 minutes today.

The time that such a commuter spends talking in the car has risen to 13.49 minutes a day, from 10.45 minutes a day in 2003.

The newspaper says that, according to the study, people make longer calls while in their cars than while outside of them. An in-car call averages 4 minutes and 21 seconds, while cellphone calls over all last an average of 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

{mospagebreaktitle=Sony Ericsson reveals Walkman phone speaker}Sony Ericsson reveals Walkman phone speaker

Sony Ericsson has followed Apple and launched a portable speaker system, this time for its Walkman music phone series, reporets The Register (6 March).

The Register says that the 25W RMS rig - described by the manufacturer as "room filling" - has a pair of 5W stereo speakers backed by a 15W sub-woofer.

According to the publication, Sony Ericsson said the device uses Sony's 32-bit S-Master Digital amplifier, as used in the consumer electronics giant's home theatre and in-car audio products. The upshot: power and clarity, the company claimed.

{mospagebreaktitle=Chinese bloggers - to profit, or not for profit?}Chinese bloggers - to profit, or not for profit?

The runaway success in China of a blog by Xu Jinglei, an actress and filmmaker, has sparked a debate about the economic value of blogs and who should profit from them, reports The New York Timews (6 March).

The newspaper says that, last October, a colleague persuaded Xu Jinglei, a Chinese actress and filmmaker, to start writing her own Web log.

Now, five months later, Ms. Xu, 31, is the country's most popular blogger, and her runaway success has given rise to an online debate in China about the economic value of blogs and who should profit from them.

The NYT reports that Ms. Xu's blog has already received more than 11 million visitors and she now says companies have contacted her about placing advertisements on her blog.

But Sina.com, the big Chinese web portal that puts the blog online, says it has no plan to commercialise its celebrity blog spaces, according to the newspaaper's report.

The newspaper reports that the discussion is one of the latest signs that blogs could eventually become a highly profitable way of musing rather than simply a lonely stage for online blathering. There are, says the NYT., already an estimated 30 million blogs worldwide, about 2 million in China alone. But almost none of them garner significant advertising revenue, and internet executives are still unsure if blogging will become a powerful force in online commerce.

According to the NYT.,the debate in China was touched off a few weeks ago when Ms. Xu '” who is a well-known actress, screenwriter and independent film director '” hinted in a television interview that she might be able to cash in on her blog's soaring popularity by selling advertising on the space. However, in a subsequent telephone interview Ms. Xu clarified her view, saying she was open to commercial opportunities but was not sure whether placing ads next to her blog was appropriate.

The newspaper says that many people on the web have sided with her right to profit from her blog, but executives at Sina.com, which is based in Beijing, say they have no plans for blog ads. Sina.com, which is listed on Nasdaq, had revenue of US$194 million in 2005, including US$85 million from advertising; it is the sixth-most-viewed web site in the world.

{mospagebreaktitle=US start-up expands virtualisation software to Java}US start-up expands virtualisation software to Java

In the US., Cassatt, a start-up hoping to profit from the flexibility that can come from technology called virtualisation, plans to expand its management software to let Java programs run on servers more efficiently.

A CNet report in The New York Times (6 March) says that the California-based company sells software called Cassatt Collage that governs how software applications run on a pool of servers. A new option called the Web Automation Module extends to software running on Java application servers.

The CNet report says that Cassatt is one of a host of start-ups and established computing powers embracing virtualisation, which substitutes a virtual foundation for software rather than the real one it's designed to use.