RIM Lays Down Burden

Meanwhile, the competitive threat from Microsoft may be more hype than reality, analysts said. The software giant has an ominous reputation, but of late doesn't have a great track record of succeeding in new markets, said Somaney.

"It's stupid to ignore the potential threat (from Microsoft), but nine times out of 10, there's a whole lot of noise and nothing else," he said.

For Microsoft to get in the game, it likely will have to sign its own licensing deal with NTP, noted the buy-side analyst. But unlike RIM, which gets the bulk of its revenue from device sales, Microsoft will likely have to try to cover those licensing costs with just software sales, which may prove to be a difficult proposition, the analyst said.

With the lawsuit out of the way and the competition a nonfactor to date, all the main obstacles are out of the way for RIM, bulls argue.

"I don't think anything is stopping them now," said the independent analyst.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints