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BlackBerry maker Research in Motion said Friday it agreed to pay $612.5 million to patent holding company NTP to settle a long-running dispute that had threatened to shut down the popular wireless e-mail service for its 3 million users.Canadian-based Research in Motion (Research) announced the settlement late Friday ahead of a U.S. judge’s expected ruling on damages in the case.Under the settlement, NTP granted RIM the right to keep running its BlackBerry business, the company said in a statement.”The agreement has been finalized and NTP’s lawsuit against RIM has been dismissed by a court order,” the Canadian company said. “The settlement means no further court proceedings or decisions about damages are necessary.”RIM also issued a warning Friday, lowering its 4th-quarter revenue projections.”This is an extremely positive development for RIM. The settlement basically makes the pre-warning irrelevant,” said Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Capital. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for RIM products, and competitors have not been able to capitalize on this.””This settlement was less than Wall Street expected,” he said.Steve Maebius, an intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner, said that recent developments at the patent office may have influenced the suit to be settled for less than the $1 billion that NTP had once demanded.”The patent office just issued its second final rejection on NTP’s patents — meaning that it was almost to point where the patents were ruled invalid,” he said. “But that development just came about too late to be relevant to the district court proceedings.”However, he said the development may have given RIM more leverage in its bargaining.”NTP wanted a one-time payment for the whole life of these patents, not just current sales — and the patents last until 2012,” he said. “$612 million is a big number, but when you look at overall life of patent, this ends up being a relatively normal size settlement.”RIM had negotiated a 2004 settlement with NTP of $450 million, but the deal fell apart before it was completed.”The settlement was a hair higher than we had expected,” said Barry Richards of Paradigm Capital. “But this was the first time that the lawsuit had tangibly affected business.”Richards said the higher price of this settlement was mitigated by ushering in an end to the negative effect the NTP lawsuit was having on RIM’s business.Richards said Microsoft and Motorola could have capitalized on RIM’s situation by introducing major wireless products, but that they had not done so.”Microsoft and Motorola missed a gigantic opportunity,” he said.Palm will benefit somewhat in the current quarter from the lawsuit, Richards believes.”But RIM’s shortfall — around 100,000 subscribers — is only two weeks worth of business for them. They can claw their way back either in the current quarter or Q2,” he said.The price of RIM’s shares was halted at $72.00 at 4:37 p.m. in anticipation of the announcement.RIM’s stock price soared after shares began trading after-hours, reaching as high as $86.30 in after-hours trade.Palm (Research) shares fell after news of the RIM settlement.

Many Palm users have been praying for a good VoIP program, and your prayers may soon be answered. MobiVoIP is a new program currently in beta. I happen to be one of the lucky beta testers, and I’ll be happy to pass my findings onto you now.MobiVoIP requires your Palm to be able to connect to the internet through Bluetooth, Wifi, or EVDO. When you place a call, it sends your call through the internet and connects you to whoever you’re calling…FREE*! Check for more here:

“Ever since HTC Magician owners were denied an upgrade path to Windows Mobile 5.0, I took it upon myself to find the next great compact Pocket PC Phone Edition (PPCPE) device that would try to last into the next generation of devices. A number of PPCPEs came out, and HTC finally released a successor, the Prophet. However, another device did make it out the door with wild initial speculation that it came from HTC. It was the XDA Atom, but was actually manufactured by Quanta and released by O2.I asked my good friend and reseller MadMonkeyBoy to obtain an Atom for me through his connections, and he practically did it with his eyes closed. When the box arrived, I discovered that the device’s packaging was obviously designed with a little style, using a glossy finish and a magnetic flap. Read this nice review here:

When Garmin announced the new iQue 3000 gps navigational handheld in the beginning of this year they stated it would be available in February. February has now come and gone and one can still not order this PDA. A Garmin spokesperson has told PalmInfocenter that the iQue 3000 will now be available in “mid to late March.” No reason was given for the delay. Some specifications of the Garmin iQue 3000: Operating system: Palm OS 5 (Garnet) Processor: Bravo 2.0 200 MHz with built-in GPS correlator Unit size (WxHxD)/Weight: 2.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.7″ inches / 5.2 oz Display information: 320×320-pixel; 54×54 mm screen size; dedicated Graffiti writing area; and usable screen area of 3.0″ (diagonal) Internal Memory: 32 MB RAM and 32 MB ROM Expandable Memory: microSD card included (128 MB microSD card for North America, or 256 MB preprogrammed microSD card for Europe and Australia) Rechargeable 1050 mAh lithium-ion battery Estimated retail price of $399 via palminfocenter.com

Hannover, Germany is playing host to next week’s much anticipated CeBit 2006 show, and it is there that BenQ Mobile will be demonstrating some nifty DVB-H handsets that the company developed in tandem with Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. With BenQ’s recent partnership with Siemens, the company gained access to previous models and prototypes developed by the latter, and this DVB-H gadget is no different. Siemens unveiled a prototype last year that did the DVB-H thing, but this time it seems the software will come from Fraunhofer IIS. Based on last year’s prototype, we should be expecting a VGA-resolution screen, dual stereo speakers, and an almost button-less design. Moreover, videos can be run either full screen, or in a window to allow for multi-tasking. Memory seems to be 128MB built-in, with room for expansion via MMC (though that will likely change).”BenQ Mobile invests in DVB-H enabling technology to prepare a commercial mass market in 2007,” comments Clemens Joos, BenQ Mobile CEO. “The integration of the personal video recording functionality will bring maximum experience to our customers and bridge the gap until the DVB-H coverage is completed.” via mobilemag.com

Trip Boss 2.0 greatly enhances the itinerary section. In addition, some enhancements were carried over into other sections, including improvements to speed, navigation, and layout, as well as the addition of customer-requested features. Please read on for complete details here:

If you are one of those diehard fans of pen-based PDAs, specifically from HP, you best be runnin out to buy a new one right away before they disappear. Chin-Teik See, a VP for Consumer Products and Mobile Devices at HP said recently at a show in Hong Kong that the company will be focusing more on converged devices because the sale of pen-based devices are low and falling fast. That means we will see more smartphones from HP with thumboards and fewer old-style stylus-sporting iPAQs. The market for pen-based devices is reportedly shrinking for the company by 30 percent each year. That isn’t to say that the company will desert the pen-based market entirely. There is still a small market, especially for entry-level buyers. The last device in this segment that they released was the rx1950 which was unveiled last September. It didn’t make much of a splash, though, since the cutting edge has moved so far beyond it. via mobilemag.com

Gameparks XGP console hasnt been heard of for a while but heres the latest screenshot and specs and a surprise mini version too, the XGP is aimed at the commercial market.XGP- 4″ TFT LCD- 1,5 million Polygons.- DDR 64MB- NAND 64MB- SD Card- DMB- wifiEstmated Price 300USD (168 POUND) XGP Mini – 2.2″ TFT LCD- DDR 32MB- NAND 64MB- SD cardEstimated Price 150USD (80 POUND)

Willcom announced the arrival of the silver W-ZERO3 on 8th March. The silver is a “refined tint, to be used by a wider user base including women” There’s a marketing gimmick for you. Still, the “refined tint” is looking good, no complaints here. Price and specs are the same at the black version: a pretty large unit at 70x130x26mm running on Windows Mobile 5.0. Full specs after the jump.Phone specifications:
Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC,
3.7-inch VGA touchscreen
416MHz Xscale processor
128MB of flash,
64MB of RAM
MiniSD slot
mini-USB, 802.11b, W-SIM,
1.33 megapixel camera
70 x 130 x 26mm
220g via uberphones.com

E-TEN Information Systems has announced that its tiny PDA-enabled phone released last year (E-TEN M600) will be shipped with preinstalled Skype 2.0 for Pocket PC. Besides with a special utility developed by E-TEN it will be possible to make VoIP calls not in loud communication mode, but as during an ordinary call, so nobody will hear youк talk. The owners of E-TEN M600 can download the program here. The company also confirmed it will release an updated software version for this device with Skype 2.0 already in it.The device features wide wireless communication opportunities – it supports quad-band GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The company positions it as the world smallest PDA-enabled phone with integrated Wi-Fi. E-TEN M600 is powered by Samsung 400 MHz processor and Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It has 128 MB flash memory onboard, a 2.8” LCD, a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash and 4x zoom. via mobile-review.com