BBM Music Service coming for US$5 monthly – The Sound of Music attracts Millennials to QNX

For the good are always the merry

Save by an evil chance,

And the merry love the fiddle,

And the merry love to dance

W.B. Yeates, The Fiddler of Dooney

Rumours had been flying about for some time that RIM was planning to launch a BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) Music Service Platform for its older generation Blackberry phones as stated in the article “Scoop: RIM in talks for BlackBerry music service”, published AUGUST 18, 2011 10:46 AM PDT By Greg Sandoval and Roger Cheng, CNET News - MEDIA MAVERICK.

This service was rumoured to be an overlay on the only reason those in the market for a phone that is not a smartphone has anymore to own one of the older model Blackberry phones: the BBM, which is effectively a private exclusive Social Network based around the unique BBM PIN Service.

Well, members of the exclusive club just got themselves their own private boom box as now this rumour is fully baked and now being served piping hot on my Blog. This as Toronto-based RIM has launched a service that gives me yet another reason to write about them in the form of a BBM Music Service as stated in the article “BlackBerry’s music service costs $5 a month, 50 song limit with library sharing”, published AUGUST 19, 2011 by MIKE FLACY, DigitalTrends now confirmed in the article “RIM unveils music-sharing service for BBM”, published AUGUST 24, 2011 11:24 PM PDT By Steven Musil, CNET News - Digital Media.

It has now arrived, coasting it at a recent US$5 for a thirty (30) day subscription with a fifty (50) song limit. Albeit other Streaming services such as Spotify for US$9.99 for a thirty (30) day subscription provide better and more bountiful music offerings, it’s inclusion of song library sharing i.e. the ability to listen to the other fifty (50) songs in another friend’s Song Library and swap up to twenty five (25) songs from that Friend’s Song Library makes this par for course, and a step in the right direction for RIM.

Most likely the app based BBM Music Service is a Scan-and-match type of setup, as RIM has reportedly signed deals with heavy hitters in the music business in North America, namely Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Music and Universal Music Group.

Hopefully, too will be some music locker based service, like the Amazon Cloud Drive with its associated Amazon Cloud Player as described in my blog article entitled “Amazon Cloud Drive and the Music Industry - Apples, Lions, Tigers and Bears” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Why Amazon Cloud Drive, the DropBox Clone, is Legal”.

It was a needed inclusion to the Blackberry Platform, now on its way out with the recent announcement and launch of several new Blackberrys sporting a faster processor and a more youthful appeal in terms of being optimized for gaming as stated in my blog article entitled “RIM Blackberry steps up to 1.2GHz and Faster Browser - QNX and Qualcomm Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, a sure hit with the Millennials [ages 18 to 28].

The QNX OS, the new operating System Platform to replace Blackberry OS 7.0 in the first Quarter of 2012AD, appears to be a much anticipated future hit, once married with the improved browser, faster processor and improved touch-centric Capacitive screens of hardware similar to the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, BlackBerry Torch 9810 and BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860. It already looks impressive on the PlayBook Tablet, albeit the Tablet itself needs a serious redesign, being not up to snuff on some Telecom Provider’s Networks as stated in my Geezam Blog article entitled “RIM’s PlayBook needs to become a Real Tablet”

So I wait with baited breath for the new Blackberry built around this mantra to debut in the First Quarter of 2012AD. Especially in light of their lackluster third place finish of 14% Global Market share in First Quarter of 2011AD according to IDC as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple + Android beat Nokia + RIM Globally - Regina Beaver's La Dolce Vita” and now 12% Global Market share in First Quarter of 2011AD according to Gartner.

I am hoping for a new challenger to the dominance of Google Android in the form of QNX that will add to the ecosystem of smartphones and thus prevent the smartphone world from becoming a monoculture of Google Android smartphones as stated in my blog article entitled “Nokia + Microsoft, Tablet and smartphone Prospects by 2015 - Three Software Musketeers” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Apple’s Revolution: Android @ Home and IceCream Sandwich in 2015AD”.

This BBM Music Service, to be honest as a Jamaican, is impractical as one can easily download music or rip music for CD’s and store them on my SD Card for use on my smartphone. Thus this service is really and truly, a private Boom Box for the Blackberry crowd with Credit Card handy burning a hole in their pockets that loves their BBM and has been pining away for some streaming music options, as currently none is available.

It is the potential that RIM is showing with these hardware and software improvements coming up to the London Olympics 2012 slated for July 27^th 2012AD that will re-attract Millennials back to this well built phone as stated in my Geezam Blog article entitled “Android smartphones may be king in 2015AD, but RIM Blackberry quality shines”, which I can now really call a smartphone.

Plus, I am secretly rooting for Blackberry, as am hoping for them to become a full blown ecosystem with Tablets and smartphones running on the QNX OS after the demise of the HP Touchpad and WebOS as stated in my blog article entitled “HP gets out of PC, TouchPad and WebOS Business - Apple iPad's victim A long Time Ago in Mexico” in this RIM’s Sound of Music (1965) to attract Millennials!