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BlackBerry blacksmith Research in Motion (RIM) is working on a music service for its smart phones, in a bid to move on from their involvement in the recent London riots and make its mobiles more musically tempting than their Spotify-toting iPhone and Android rivals.
Called BBM Music, its subscribers will have access to about 50 songs at a time on their BlackBerry phones, according to our US sister site CNET News, with the four largest record labels in talks to open their libraries to the service.
The idea is that the service will work alongside BlackBerry Messenger (BBM to its mates), the free messaging service that lets you send missives to other BlackBerry users.
BBM 6, the newest version of BBM, is able to work within other apps, so it seems BBM Music would be a separate app with BBM integration.
We’ll find out for sure soon enough — BBM Music could become official as soon as next week. It’s probably going to cost you cash to subscribe, but it could be less than Spotify, which is a tenner a month, and is available on iOS and Android (but not for BlackBerry).
If it’s good enough value (and if it actually works), the ability to access cheap choons could persuade people looking for their next mobile to go for a BlackBerry rather than splashing out on an iPhone or an Android mobile.
BlackBerry phones have until recently had a serious business image because of their popularity with large, scary corporations. But because they’re reasonably cheap and offer free messaging, they’re extremely popular with the lootin’ yoot, who so memorably used them to organise their recent rioting.
Would you use a BlackBerry music service? Or is this a desperate attempt to put BlackBerry back on top? Hit us up in the comments section below, or on our Facebook page.
