SAN FRANCISCO - Social network MySpace and Research In Motion are joining forces to develop an integrated MySpace Mobile experience customized for BlackBerry smartphones.

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie broke the news of the MySpace and RIM relationship during his keynote speech at CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2008, in which he highlighted BlackBerry's lifestyle-oriented, consumer-friendly features. His pitch was that the new MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is optimized to deliver rich content and data to users on the go.

"The most exciting new development in the mobile ecosystem is wireless support of social networking," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research In Motion, Waterloo, Ontario. "We now have a very exciting and rich evolution of MySpace on BlackBerry, one of the most trafficked sites on the Internet."

MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones integrates MySpace's main social networking components with the BlackBerry platform to provide instant, push-based messaging to BlackBerry and MySpace users. The application will be available in all BlackBerry markets globally.

"What we're seeing is a large-scale extension of lifestyles into the mobile space, and MySpace is a leader," Mr. Balsillie said. "We're seeing 1000 percent growth of wireless social networking."

As part of this collaboration, RIM is also creating a BlackBerry community page on MySpace for users to access the latest BlackBerry smartphone news, content, videos, games, ringtones, skins and other unique and engaging features.

Mobile social networking is on the rise, with analysts forecasting more than 800 million people worldwide accessing social networks through their mobile phones by 2012, up from 82 million in 2007, according to eMarketer.

With social networking becoming a large part of the mobile consumer experience, RIM and MySpace are aiming to inspire deeper consumer engagement with their brands.

For Research In Motion, it is a play for a younger consumer base for its BlackBerry handsets.

RIM's other social networking partnerships include Facebook, Lotus Connections and Yahoo's Flickr.
Through this partnership, MySpace is further committing to mobile as a central element of the its global business strategy.

The partnership with RIM follows the launch of MySpace's redesigned mobile Web site at http://m.myspace.com, which now receives more than two million daily unique mobile visits.

Around the world MySpace has more than 27 live carrier deals in 20 countries.

By empowering MySpace and BlackBerry smartphone consumers with real-time access to their global network, MySpace and RIM claim to be responding to consumers' demands for a mobile experience that matches their busy lifestyle.

In addition, the enhanced version of MySpace Mobile for BlackBerry smartphones is tailored to the rapidly growing number of mobile multimedia users.

The MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones application is designed with features including a full messaging interface with comments, bulletins and messaging, as well as real-time status and mood updates.

Consumers can find, add and respond to friend requests and view and comment on friends' albums and photos.

Other features include notification of new MySpace events such as message and friend requests, as well as camera integration and optimized photo management letting consumers snap, sort and upload pictures anytime and anywhere.

The BlackBerry hub is a community page on MySpace that will deliver a mobile social networking experience for BlackBerry smartphone users.

The new MySpace for BlackBerry application is expected to be available globally by October 2008.

"BlackBerry smartphone users have unsurprisingly been quick to understand and lead mobile trends and we are seeing many of our customers strongly embrace mobile social networking as an integral part of their communications and day-to-day lives," Mr. Balsillie said. "MySpace was one of the first social networking sites to get it right and we are thrilled to join forces to continue evolving and enhancing the mobile social networking experience for our mutual user base."