RIM has taken the wrapping paper off of their new music service, which for BBM (Blackberry Messenger) addicts, will only feed this habit. But for anyone who uses a Blackberry and does not have hundreds of BBM contacts, the service falls flat.
The idea for the service is that for a monthly fee of $4.99, you can download 50 songs a month, via Crackberry. The twist that RIM has put into its service is that if you have a BBM contact who is paying for the service as well, you can stream their 50 downloads to your device. Also, you can only swap out 25 songs a month.
The basic concept is to build a web of BBM users and stream each other’s music, which sounds like a good idea, until you realize that if you don’t have that many contacts with the service, then your $4.99 a month doesn’t go all that far.
For those who are BBM addicts, this may be a good deal. But with Spotify, Zune Pass, Pandora and many other services out there, charging similar prices it may be a tough sell.
RIM knows that its BBM is what keeps most of its non-corporate users glued to the platform. So it’s understandable that they are trying to use that service to help maintain the loyalty. But for those of us without many BBM contacts, the new service falls flat compared to its competition.
Image Credit: Crackberry.com