Their was lots of news coming out of the RIM camp from CTIA 2008 yesterday. In total, 5 Press Releases came out regarding some new and exciting things for our beloved BlackBerry devices, some of which came seemingly out of no where and had to be unexpected by most people who were not informed of the recent partnerships ahead of time.
Yesterday saw partnerships announced with TiVo, MySpace, Microsoft, Slacker (who?) and probably the most interesting and compelling of all them... TicketMaster. Be sure to let us know what you think of the new stuff in the comments.
Let's have a look at some of what is coming to your BlackBerry soon after the jump..
TiVo subscribers will soon be able to wirelessly control their TiVo DVRs using a BlackBerry smartphone - anytime, anywhere - and "that is a powerful example of how our respective technologies can complement each other to serve our mutual customers," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion. "As the BlackBerry smartphone continues its evolution as a modern lifestyle device, the importance of home entertainment integration will continue to grow and TiVo will be the key in providing consumers with greater flexibility in accessing television content"
Hmm... this kind of sounds familiar to me...alot like Unify4life, that was announced way back at WES 2008.
"MySpace and RIM are at the forefront of the mobile social networking evolution," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive officer of MySpace. "Our partnership enables millions of BlackBerry smartphone users to leverage MySpace on the go and access content, friend networks, and status and mood updates anywhere at any time."
The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is designed with a rich and robust feature set, including:
- A full messaging interface, including comments, bulletins and messaging
- Real time status and mood updates.
- Find, add, and respond to friend requests
- Camera integration and optimized photo management allowing users to snap, sort and upload pictures anytime and anywhere.
- View and comment on friends’ albums and photos
- Notification of new MySpace events (message and friend requests.)
Yup, that's right folks..while the mobile site for MySpace has been available for a long time now (although recently updated) it seems as though MySpace will be coming to your BlackBerry in dedicated form. Think of MSN, Yahoo and AIM etc..etc..they are even creating a "BlackBerry Hub" which promises to bring "a unique experience rich in content for BlackBerry smartphone users."... So what do ya think...are there enough MySpace users out there to suffice a dedicated BlackBerry application, I know I'm NOT one of them.
"As the BlackBerry platform continues to evolve and broaden its appeal to mobile users, RIM looks to answer our customers’ needs with a broad range of high-value solutions optimized for use with BlackBerry smartphones," said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. "Offering Live Search on BlackBerry smartphones extends choice for our customers and allows users to conveniently and quickly search the Internet when they are mobile.
Now this partnership is interesting considering Windows Mobile is in the same smartphone market as RIM, with both companies looking to grab their own slice of the pie shall we say, or is it that Microsoft is just trying to get in the market anyway they can?? I'm not sure why RIM would be choosing Microsoft over Google, but if this relationship is any indication... maybe I won't be holding my breath for a mobile version of Chrome. LOL!!
The Slacker application will provide BlackBerry smartphone users in the U.S. with a robust, high-fidelity personalized music discovery and listening experience pulling from over 100 expertly programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or their own custom-created stations.
Slacker’s unique caching technology will allow listeners to access Personal Radio stations using their BlackBerry smartphones without ever having to manage playlists, research new artists or deal with complicated software again. The Slacker application for BlackBerry smartphones will work with Free Slacker Basic Radio and Slacker Premium Radio.
This sounds promising, I hope when it hits it will be as good as they are making it sound... although, has anyone really heard of Slacker before today? I know I haven't although now since the announcement I have looked at their site and their "Personal Radio" application for PC is quite nice.
Read the Full Press Release >>
"The BlackBerry platform is the ideal platform for mobile e-commerce. With its inherent flexibility, stability and security, the BlackBerry platform allows application providers to offer e-commerce solutions that people will feel confident using,” said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO at Research In Motion. “We are very excited to be working with Ticketmaster to provide this exclusive value-added service to our customers.”
- With this agreement, Ticketmaster will move beyond the physical ticket to providing wireless, fan-friendly convenience with BlackBerry smartphones.
- BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to browse, search, and purchase tickets to live entertainment while on the go.
- Additionally, this agreement supports the digital-to-real media experience as BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to browse music then sample cuts, and purchase tickets to that live entertainment event.
- BlackBerry smartphone users can receive anytime, anywhere email alerts with news and information about upcoming music, family and sporting events.
- BlackBerry Wallet users will also enjoy seamless access to their credit card and reward card information when purchasing through Ticketmaster on their BlackBerry smartphone..
- This agreement marks the first end-to-end mobile e-commerce solution for smartphone-based ticket purchasing in North America.
- The RIM-Ticketmaster agreement is exclusive to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This was one the more interesting partnerships so far and hey, what do ya know? Someone else out there besides bPlay has implemented the BlackBerry Wallet feature and that is nice to see. Maybe now I'll be able to get some nice John Mayer tickets ;)
That's it for now folks and again, let us know what you all think about the new things coming in the comments.
