MYSPACE, RIM JOIN FORCES TO DELIVER MOBILE SOCIAL APPLICATION FOR BLACKBERRY

MySpace and Research In Motion (RIM) have partnered to develop an integrated MySpace Mobile experience customized for BlackBerry smartphones. The application integrates MySpace’s main social networking components with the BlackBerry platform to provide instant, push-based messaging to BlackBerry and MySpace users. The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is expected to be available globally from October. "MySpace and RIM are at the forefront of the mobile social networking evolution," said MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. "Our partnership enables millions of BlackBerry smartphone users to leverage MySpace on the go and access content, friend networks, and status and mood updates anywhere at any time." The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application will offer a full messaging interface, including comments, bulletins, and messaging; real-time status and mood updates; finding, adding, and responding to friend requests; camera integration and optimized photo management; viewing and commenting on friends’ albums and photos; and notification of new MySpace events. RIM is also creating a BlackBerry Hub community page on MySpace for users to access the latest BlackBerry smartphone news, content, videos, games, ringtones, skins, and other features. eMarketer forecasts that over 800 million people worldwide will be accessing social networks via their mobile phones by 2012, up from 82 million in 2007. -Smarajit Dasgupta