Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates in Northboro, Mass., said Microsoft and its partners are undoubtedly trying to take advantage of RIM's legal woes with this week's news. But Gold noted that Microsoft faces its own patent infringement lawsuit from Visto Corp. over Direct Push. The case, filed in December in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, involves three Visto patents (see "Visto sues Microsoft over wireless e-mail patents"). Microsoft will not comment on the lawsuit.

Gold also worries that the MSFP upgrade could be cumbersome and won't be available for several months. And once it is available, it will reduce the number of devices that users can choose from, Gold said. "If you want your execs to use whatever device du jour they fancy, Microsoft can't handle that," he said.