RIM partners to bring consumer applications to BlackBerry
Last Updated: Friday, September 12, 2008 | 10:26 AM ET
CBC News
Research In Motion Ltd. has unveiled partnerships with consumer giants like Ticketmaster, MySpace and Microsoft, continuing the company's push toward attracting mainstream consumers to its BlackBerry devices.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company announced five deals on Thursday aimed at providing more consumer-friendly applications to its popular handsets, which have traditionally offered services more suited to business executives and other professionals.
The deal with Ticketmaster — exclusive to Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom — will let BlackBerry users search, browse and buy tickets to sporting and entertainment events.
Another deal with News Corp.-owned social networking site MySpace, will see the two join to develop a Mobile MySpace application custom-built for BlackBerry smartphones.
Likewise, RIM and Microsoft announced they are working together to integrate Microsoft's Live Search capabilities into the smartphones.
Both the Microsoft and MySpace applications would be available to customers worldwide.
RIM announced an agreement with digital video recording service TiVo Inc. that would allow BlackBerry users to schedule television recording from their smartphones.
And RIM also announced a deal with Slacker Inc. to provide a free radio application for the BlackBerry to U.S. customers.
The deals come just a day after RIM introduced a flip-phone version of its BlackBerry Pearl, the latest offering from the company aimed at broadening the appeal of it products beyond the business community.
RIM is facing increased competition in the smartphone market from Apple Inc.'s more consumer-oriented iPhone, and has responded with plans to introduce a number of new devices aimed at that market.
In August the company already introduced the BlackBerry Bold to Canada, and is expected to bring the device to he U.S. later in the fall. The Bold has a larger screen than previous models as well as access to faster third-generation cellular networks.
And RIM is expected to release the BlackBerry Thunder later in the year, which will have a touch screen like the one the iPhone has helped popularize.
RIM shares fell $3.24 or 2.8 per cent to $114.64 in midmorning trading Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- Whitney Houston's body was flown out of Los Angeles, and headed to New Jersey, where her family was making arrangements for a funeral at the end of the week. more »
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a mandatory minimum sentence for a first offence of possessing a loaded firearm. more »
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says. more »
- Low vitamin D in womb tied to poor language skills
- Children born to women who had low levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy are more likely to have language problems, a new study suggests. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Canada dropping the ozone ball, scientists warn
- Leading atmospheric scientists are warning that Canada's cuts to its ozone monitoring program are already having effects on the world's ability to monitor air quality and ozone depletion. more »
- Ban Wi-Fi in classroom, Ontario teachers union urges
- The Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association says computers in all new schools should be hardwired instead of setting up wireless networks, citing safety concerns. more »
- How to think like a Neanderthal
- A lack of creativity and the inability to innovate may have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals, two researchers argue in a book that aims to get inside the Neanderthal mind. more »
- FBI seeks social media data mining tool
- The U.S. government is seeking software that can mine social media to predict everything from future terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings, according to requests posted online by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- 'Disgusting' court backlog may free hit and run accused
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- Adele wins best album, best record Grammys
- Whitney Houston autopsy results withheld
- U.S. bank reforms could hurt Canadians, Flaherty fears
- Father, son recall close call on ice road
- CBC digital music service launched
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
