BlackBerry music service details slip

RIM's BlackBerry music service won't be as aggressive as others but will be counting on a unique strategy and a lower price to get listeners involved. New leaks for the service, sometimes called BBM Music, suggest that each individual user's catalog will be capped at just 50 songs but rely on a BBM group to expand. In CrackBerry's understanding, anyone who's subscribed in the group also shares their library, giving access to hundreds or thousands of songs.

Cost would be the key to the service. At $5 per month, it would cost half as much as a service like Rdio or Spotify does for mobile access. The service would first have to come as a BlackBerry App World download, but it would have a month-long trial to give phone owners a taste.

The service as such wouldn't directly try to challenge Amazon MP3, iTunes, or their matching cloud services. RIM is taking a gamble that it can get customers locked into BBM by giving them a lower-priced music service than rivals in return for having to stay on the BlackBerry and making contacts.

Rumors so far suggest the service is in testing and could be deployed within the next few weeks, possibly as soon as next week.

By Electronista Staff