“Research In Motion Ltd. is developing a service that would let subscribers access music on its smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter. The music service is designed to work with RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, the company’s proprietary instant-message system, according to people who have discussed it with RIM executives,” Ethan Smith reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“These people said that BBM Music, as the service is to be known, could launch as soon as next week,” Smith reports. “Subscribers would get access to around 50 songs at a time, which they could listen to on their phones and share with other subscribers via BlackBerry Messenger.”
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Smith reports, “The price of the new service couldn’t be determined. But people in the music industry said they have been told it will cost significantly less than Spotify AB or Rhapsody, which both charge $10 a month for unlimited access to music on mobile phones. According to people who have discussed the service with RIM executives, the new service isn’t intended to compete directly with Apple Inc.’s iTunes or music service Spotify, which launched recently in the U.S. Instead, the BlackBerry service is supposed to help younger users ‘customize’ their phones and share their songs with friends.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Dumb and dumber continue tossing out sweet nothings while leading RIM’s death march, but at least BlackBerry users will have something with which to drown out RIM’s death rattle.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mauricio D.” for the heads up.]