With the February 24 deadline over NTP’s injunction looming closer, RIM has announced that a workaround is ready to ensure that there will be no service disruptions in the US. The BlackBerry Multi-Mode Edition is a software workaround that users will download onto their devices. Should the February 24 shutdown actually take place, RIM will then activate the dormant “US Mode” from its Network Operating Center (NOC). This mode is apparently significant enough that the NTP patent claims would not apply to it.
RIM promises that users will not see any changes, service providers and system administrators will equally be unaffected and Java applications will require no changes.