14 DAY TRIAL // The same day it announced that MySpace, Microsoft Live Search and Ticketmaster were all coming to the Blackberry platform, Canada's RIM also unveiled the future availability of a Slacker Personal Radio application for its smartphone users.
Following the agreement between RIM and Slacker, Inc., BlackBerry owners will be able to access any Slacker radio station via their smartphone, regardless of the presence or absence of a wireless connection. The upcoming app is set to provide a perfect mobile music experience, coming with more than "100 expertly programmed Slacker stations" as well as with tracks from more than 10,000 artist stations.
Leveraging on an exquisite caching technology, Slacker should allow BlackBerry owners to connect to Personal Radio stations with ease. Since Slacker is popular mainly across the US, this will be the market where the new BlackBerry application will be available at first.
"From the inception of Slacker, our mission has been to give listeners the music they love wherever they are. Working with RIM allows us to provide our listeners with added flexibility and convenience to make the most of the Slacker Personal Radio service," said Dennis Mudd, Slacker's chief executive officer.
Jim Balsillie, RIM's Co-CEO, added, "BlackBerry smartphones have evolved with advanced communications and multimedia capabilities to become modern lifestyle devices that are used in highly personalized ways and the free Slacker Personal Radio application is a great example of a mobile entertainment application that can add value to the user’s mobile experience in a meaningful way."
Although a "soon" was mentioned, Research in Motion did not say when exactly US BlackBerry users would be able to get the new Slacker Personal Radio application.
Launched back in spring 2007, Slacker has a wider range of music content, as it works together with various labels, including: Sony BMG, Universal, EMI, Warner, Ubiquity, Matador Records, Sanctuary Group and so on.