RIM to share music through BlackBerry Messenger

The BlackBerry Messenger system was in the press last week for all the wrong reasons, being blamed as platform for rioters in the United Kingdom. In more positive news today however Research In Motion have been holding discussions with the major record labels so they can launch a new BlackBerry Music Service which could get merged into the BlackBerry Messenger service.

RIM has apparently already signed a deal with one of the top four record companies, and is close to signing up two more for the new service said to inject some life into the flagging BlackBerry handset. This new feature will allow users to listen and share up to 50 songs with friends and colleagues through the BlackBerry Messenger Service.

The Wall Street Journal said that the new service is not said to challenge iTunes, but the company are more interested in offering new features to their customers. With the BlackBerry Bold 9900 on the market, it may also help to attract a new, younger audience.

RIM need these ideas to come to fruition, in order to stimulate a market that they are losing rapidly to competitors, such as Google Android and Apple iOS. They are realising that The BlackBerry Messenger service is actually one of their strongest selling points, especially with the growing adoption of social networking platforms.

KitGuru says: Whether this will help boost sales has yet to be proven, but it certainly sounds like an interesting feature.

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