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TECH SUPPORT hand-held BY GERRY BLACKWE LL tions for the iPhone just might. I personally like the one that turns an iPhone into a spirit level. As the ad has it, "There's an app for just about anything. Only on the iPhone." It's canny marketing. The notion that your return on I investment in the iPhone increases as you add applications is very appealing. It has put BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. on the defensive. The company launched its own online emporium for BlackBerry applications, App World, in April — shamelessly imitating Apple's wildly successful App Store. But the perception that iPhone offers more ways to extend its usefulness than BlackBerry, with more applica- tions created by more third-party developers may be just that — perception. "The BlackBerry has been around much longer than iPhone," points out Lyndon Burrell, senior marketing man- ager for professional services at RIM. "And we've spent many years promoting BlackBerry solutions." He estimates there are "thousands" available today. Nor is RIM as threatened by Apple as it might at first appear. Recent data from IDC, a market research firm focused on high-tech industries, shows BlackBerry gaining market share between the third and fourth quarters of 2008 — and iPhone losing share. The BlackBerry is the hand-held of choice for law firms in Canada. And while there may not be a legal application "for just about anything," there are plenty of BlackBerry tools that can extend the usefulness of the device for lawyers. They fall into four categories, Burrell says: practice manage- ment, document management, research, and personal pro- ductivity. Most lack the cool quotient of an iPhone spirit level application, but they can add enormous value. Many practice management packages can synchronize data with BlackBerrys, and some, such as Legal Files, offer tighter integration. Timekeeping systems can also be extended to the BlackBerry. Some will automatically upload data over the wire- less network to a centralized timekeeping system. PensEra Knowledge Technologies, makers of the TimeKM system used by many firms, offers TimeKM Mobile for the 20 A UGUST 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com BlackBerry. AirTime Manager is a timekeeping system built from the ground up to work over wireless networks using hand- helds, including BlackBerry. These products let lawyers track time on a BlackBerry with a few keystrokes. Burrell claims return on investment for mobile timekeeping is "virtually immediate" because lawyers do not have to wait until they get back to the office and rely on memory, they end up docketing more billable hours. Even if it's only 30 minutes of additional billable time a week, he says, that works out to over $10,000 a year for a lawyer billing $450 an hour. Glenn Zakaib, a partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP in Toronto, has been using TimeKM Mobile on his BlackBerry for a few years. "I'm not sure whether you're necessarily capturing more f the Apple iPhone's revolutionary touch interface and sleek good looks don't seduce you away from your BlackBerry, the TV ads crowing about those cool applica- app wars The iPhone isn't the only one with add-ons, BlackBerry has a whole lotta tools available that make the lawyers' smartphone choice even more useful. ENRICO VARRASSO