Legal Geek No. 13: Do Blackberry Phones Finally Have a True Successor?

This week, the subject is whether a new phone to be released in June will finally be a true successor to Blackberry phones in the business world.

https://archive.org/details/LegalGeekEp13

The smartphone industry, like many technological fields, generally hits booms and busts based on widespread acceptance by the corporate world and by government. When employees in the business world could remain connected to the job everywhere on a secure connection with a keyboard and e-mail capabilities, the Blackberry became the crown jewel of the smartphone market.

Indeed, at its height, Blackberry held more than 20% worldwide market share. But that crashed quickly to less than 3% in five year thanks to the iPhone and other competitors blazing new trails while Blackberry was left behind.  Perhaps the only reason Blackberry remains in business is the corporate world, which is slow to adapt to new technologies thanks to data security and privacy concerns, among other items.

But have we now finally found the true successor to Blackberry phones?


The Blackphone was announced early this year and is designed by Phil Zimmerman, who is known as the inventor of PGP.  It is touted as the Spy-Proof phone, which is precisely the type of marketing scheme that works wonders in the corporate world. Although some would argue only idiots leave phone communications unencrypted or unprotected these days, it's hard to stop the onslaught of data collection in nearly every phone application and there will always be plenty of non-saavy tech idiots in the business world.

Thus, reports are flooding in this week that corporate giants such as those in the Fortune 50 are pre-ordering the Blackphone in high amounts. Considering the phone has comparable specs as android phones slightly above entry level, this could be a cost-effective option for finally replacing the Blackberry in many business settings.

Businesses want to keep all proprietary data such as trade secrets and future patent subject matter such as R&D away from prying eyes that will sell out or possible include foreign and domestic competitors, and this phone is promising the world on that front. Especially if the general public buys in for the purpose of privacy from big brother interests like the NSA, this phone could be the next sensation.

It's unclear if any of this technology is patent pending, although that might not matter if the marketing clicks. Make no mistake: Blackphone is intended to be a play on Blackberry, which again might bring up some interesting trademark questions that likely won't matter to the commercial success of the device.

Bottom Line: In this era of increased focus on privacy, the Blackphone is well positioned even without IP protection to be a huge player. Look for this star to continue to rise.

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