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Blackberry Music Service in the Works

RIM aiming to take on iTunes

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 19, 2011 2:17 AM CDT

(Newser) – Blackberry maker Research in Motion is aiming to give itself an edge in the smartphone market with a new music service designed to run on its instant messaging system. The new service, to be called BBM Music, will allow users to access and share up to 50 songs at a time through their smartphones, and could be launched as soon as next week, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. RIM has signed a deal with at least one of the four major record companies and is closing in on deals with two more, according to CNET.

An RIM exec displays the newly launched Blackberry Bold 9900. (Getty Images)

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Blackberry Music Service in the Works

RIM aiming to take on iTunes

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Research In Motion • BlackBerry • smartphones • online music • BlackBerry Bold • Spotify

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More Newser Stories

BlackBerry Rolls Out New Touch Phones

But will it be enough to save Research in Motion?

New BlackBerry Lands in a Sweet Spot

Physical keyboard, just-right size make Curve 8900 a winner

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Maker RIM will instead focus on business customers

RIM's Co-CEOs Step Down

Balsillie, Lazaridis insist it had nothing to do with investor pressure

Text, Email Backlog Blamed for BlackBerry Outage

Network failure spread after backup system failed, RIM says

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