RIMM Focuses on Upgrades

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Ltd., recently announced its plan to upgrade its service offerings by adding another value-added service to its portfolio. The new service, namely BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Music will enable BlackBerry users to share songs and music with other users.

Growing competition from Google Inc’s  Android-based smartphones and Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad series will likely lead to further market share loss. Even the popular BlackBerry Messenger, the only unique product in the company’s portfolio, has also come under threat from Apple’s iMessenger, which is believed to be quite advanced in nature as compared to BBM.

The new BBM Music service is believed to be an attempt on the company’s part to counter further market share losses. Under the new service, the users will have to pay a monthly rental of $4.99 to access up to 10 million popular music tracks from which they can include up to 50 songs to their BBM Music profile.

Moreover, these newly added songs can be accessed by other friends who are also subscribed to this new service. Hence, users of this new service will be able to access many songs from their other friend groups at no extra costs.

According to the industry analysts, Research In Motion may launch new BlackBerry devices that will support Android applications. Such a move will enable the company to boost its sale volume as well as regain its lost market share.

Stiff competition and continuous loss of market share coupled with tepid response from their much hyped PlayBook tablets and delayed product launch will put pressure on profitability going forward. Moreover, reduced second quarter outlook will further lose investors confidence on its stock.

Posted in: BlackBerry,News