It's the elephant in the room when it comes to mobile at the moment, RIM is losing mobile marketshare rapidly, and the company is desperately trying to make itself attractive again. Now, it appears that RIM is attempting to sealing a deal with four major record labels which will allow them to run a music service on top of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
According to CNET today, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music are interested in seeing new retail services, and are considering a major deal with RIM in the near future. The report says that RIM has already signed up one of the major music groups but it was not named. The move is seen as trying to inject more consumer interest in the platform, which is widely seen as a corporate tool rather than something "cool" to buy.
The music service could be available regardless of carrier and would enable users to access music through a subscription instantly.
Not much more information is known about the service, but the news comes shortly after RIM opened up BBM to developers for deeper mobile integration with applications such as Foursquare, and ahead of the launch of the BlackBerry Bold, which is yet another attempt at making the company grow again.
15 Comments
Load the comments and join the conversation!
Read the comments, ask the editors questions, show respect and join the conversation.