Remember that “Typo” Bluetooth iPhone keyboard case backed by Hollywood’s Ryan Seacrest? It essentially grafts a BlackBerry style keyboard onto an iPhone. Well, it turns out that BlackBerry is not amused that the Typo is effectively a rip-off of the iconic keyboard design from their BlackBerry phones. The layout and styling of the keys is remarkably similar, after all…so BlackBerry is filing suit for infringement of their design.

As Matthew Panzarino points out on TechCrunch, it seems unlikely that any money they get out of this even if they win will be enough to slow Blackberry’s slide into obscurity as it is eclipsed by both iOS and Android devices.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Copying Blackberry keyboards is the least of the company’s worries. The real one is that it’s no longer cool to be seen with a ‘Crackberry.’

    That in turn illustrates that the more something is ‘in’ at one time, the more likely it is to be ‘out’ a few years later. The very distinctiveness that makes something appealing later makes it unappealing. The candy-colored, first-generation iMacs are another example.

    A lovely and well-meaning friend who works in commercial clothing photography once told me, item by item, when each item of clothing I was wearing had been in style. None had been in style within the last five years. I didn’t care. I liked them and that was enough for me. I consider clothing almost timeless. But technology is definitely not timeless.

  2. It’s a shame that “coolness” which seems to be defined by others who claim to be “cool” can cause significant hurt upon products for no other reason then not being “cool.” Also a big problem that coolness trumps function.

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