[CrackBerry News]

When I first watched the promo video for the Typo physical keyboard for the iPhone, I thought it was a complete joke. With word that Ryan Seacrest was an investor and seeing how much the Typo keyboard looked identical to a BlackBerry keyboard, I thought it was actually a Funny or Die or Rick Mercer sketch that I was viewing. But the jokes didn�t come. This was and is a real iPhone accessory. And as much as it puts me in an awkward position to admit it*� * I can�t lie � it�s actually a pretty damn good one, too.
I�m in Las Vegas this week for CES, and Typo has been here showing off their bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone. The CEO of Typo gave us a couple Typo keyboards to take home, and I�ve been putting it to use the past 36 hours on my iPhone 5s. I�m already at home on it - typing as fast and accurately on it as I do with my BlackBerry Q10.*
This shouldn�t be a surprise though. The keyboard is such a complete rip off of a BlackBerry keyboard that there was nearly ZERO adjustment needed. I�m not a lawyer, but I understand why BlackBerry has filed suit against Typo Products LLC and Ryan Seacrest. It seems completely justified given the near identical nature of the keyboard, and I�m pretty sure there�s no way Typo will get away with selling this keyboard in the current form for very long. One way or another it�s either getting shut down, or BlackBerry will get paid on it (I tweeted the other night that BlackBerry should just buy Typo and solve the problem - it can be yet another way to bring the BlackBerry experience to other platforms).

Full story from the Crackberry Blog...

[David Murray1]

At the end of the day it's still attached to an iPhone and for that reason I will never have any need for it.

[Terser Nori]

At the end of the day it's still attached to an iPhone and for that reason I will never have any need for it.

100% agree with you on that. ::ver:::

I just don't see it as a huge blackberry rip off though. It has a different shape, works over a Bluetooth connection, and is just an accessory. At a glance people might mistake it for a bb, but under reasonable inspection looks, and feels different.

[just_luc]

100% agree with you on that. ::ver:::

I just don't see it as a huge blackberry rip off though. It has a different shape, works over a Bluetooth connection, and is just an accessory. At a glance people might mistake it for a bb, but under reasonable inspection looks, and feels different.

They clearly intended for it to be as BlackBerry like as possible.. the fact that it works over blue tooth is irrelevant, the fact that it's a different shape is only due to the shape of the phone it has to connect to. Things like the frets, the shape of the keys.. they did specifically to try and resonate with ex-bb users.

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[CrackBerry Kevin]

Exactly what just_luc said. The concept itself is fine, but the fact they made several design decisions to make it look as BlackBerry like as possible is clearly evident.

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[Dave Bourque]

Exactly what just_luc said. The concept itself is fine, but the fact they made several design decisions to make it look as BlackBerry like as possible is clearly evident.

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So they won't be able to release the product ? I hope...

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.1925

[just_luc]

That all depends on the result of the lawsuit I imagine.

While it's never a certainty, my money says they'll win. But we don't yet know what they'll ask for OR what they'll be granted in the end. Maybe they'll want a cease and desist, in which case if granted the typo will likely still launch, but with a different keyboard design.. maybe they'll just ask for a royalty on each unit sold.. in which case the product might go ahead as is or typo might decide to retool it anyway to avoid paying the royalty... and lastly maybe they'll ask for a cease and desist but be granted a royalty instead.

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