I’ve recently fielded some questions asking about the RIM/NTP case. The questions had to do with whether it was really so tough for carriers to implement an injunction, should the judge decide to side with NTP. NTP is saying that they would give an exemption to the US government and relief workers (police, ambulance, etc. ) and now are conceding that the injunction need only apply to new installations.
Among the issues that people don’t quite understand are the challenges in identifying who is allowed and who isn’t. Although RIM claims it has developed a work-around, it requires users to install new software in the devices and in the Blackberry Enterprise Servers.
If one new employee starts, you presumably have to convert over the entire user base to the work-around solution. Any solution dependent on users doing something is bound to lead to angry customers.
No matter how much publicity goes out up front, a lot of people will ignore the messages until their device goes dead. And if that happens to enough executives, you should be able to hear the shouting all the way up here in Toronto.
By the way, Canadians shouldn’t be smug about this. We still have no idea about what this means for RIM services for travellers in the US.