After a few weeks of calm, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has been making headlines again as it fields complaints and engages in more litigation.
For a start, many users are complaining about being charged for receiving junk mail on BlackBerries. Because the service charges for downloads, any spam that gets through its filters will cost the users. RIM’s only response is to say it is continuously monitoring spam levels … and making necessary adjustments to its reputation filters to more accurately identify spam messages.”
Then there’s a Canadian pension fund which is demanding that RIM uses independent assessors to review stock option grants. At the moment RIM’s directors oversee the share option schemes, which could well benefit RIM’s directors.
And RIM has filed a lawsuit against Samsung, claiming that the Korean maker has used names that are too close to ‘BlackBerry’. Samsung’s I607 BlackJack is the model in question; it’s an email-oriented Windows phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, sold exclusively by Cingular Wireless in the States.
In the complaint, RIM said Samsung’s use of the ‘BlackJack’ name “constitutes false designation of origin, unfair competition and trademark dilution”.
Then we heard that a Seattle-based software developer has found that the latest version of the operating system for the BlackBerry 870x includes a slowed-down version of Bluetooth. OS 4.1 transfers at 65KBps rather than 200 or better. “We are currently unsure whether this is an intentional performance degradation or not,” said the company. The problem doesn’t apply to BlackBerry OS 4.2 for the Pearl, which is a bit odd.