Blackberry maker Research in Motion will apparently be rolling out a music service similar to iTunes and Spotify, although they won’t be directly competing with those companies.
According to source who spoke to Wall Street Journal, the company is currently engaged in developing the service, which will be called BBM Music, and might release it as early as next week while working in conjunction with Blackberry’s BBM service.
“The sources claim that BBM Music isn’t meant to compete with dominating services like iTunes or Spotify, while simultaneously pointing out that it will cost “significantly less” than Spotify (which currently offers free, $4.99, and $9.99 monthly tiers). Instead, BBM Music will supposedly allow users to access 50 songs at a time and share those songs over BlackBerry Messenger with friends,” website Ars Technica wrote.
The service is expected to allow young adults to customise their phones through the service, which would include setting the songs as ringtones, ringback tones, and message tones. According to the source, RIM has already signed deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group and is expected to make an official announcement soon.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
