Research In Motion (RIM) is the company behind the innovative and award-winning BlackBerry® product line. The BlackBerry family includes best-in-class smartphones and software offerings, as well as the all new BlackBerry® PlayBook, the world’s first professional tablet. Courtesy of Research In Motion

London, UK and Waterloo, ON, Canada - March 9, 2011

Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) and 7digital today announced that the 7digital Music Store will come pre-installed (Certain territorial restrictions may apply) on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Research In Motion, names the 7digital Music App for BlackBerry smartphones as a 'Super App' in his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2010. Courtesy of RIM / YouTube

The 7digital Music Store will give BlackBerry PlayBook users access to 7digital’s catalogue of over 13 million high quality (320kbps) MP3s.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Research In Motion, names the 7digital Music App for BlackBerry smartphones as a 'Super App' in his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2010. Courtesy of RIM / YouTube

BlackBerry PlayBook users will be able to search for tracks, albums and artists and preview tracks before making a purchase.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Research In Motion, names the 7digital Music App for BlackBerry smartphones as a 'Super App' in his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2010. Courtesy of RIM / YouTube

Users can also discover new music through 7digital’s recommendation technology.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Research In Motion, names the 7digital Music App for BlackBerry smartphones as a 'Super App' in his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2010. Courtesy of RIM / YouTube

Prices for BlackBerry PlayBook users will match the prices on 7digital.com, with individual tracks and albums priced in a customer’s local currency.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer Research In Motion, names the 7digital Music App for BlackBerry smartphones as a 'Super App' in his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress 2010. Courtesy of RIM / YouTube

Ben Drury, CEO 7digital comments,
“We’re really excited to be working with RIM to bring the 7digital experience to the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM has created an incredible tablet with premium multimedia features and together we are delivering a truly exceptional music experience for mobile users, offering content that is extremely easy to discover, purchase and use.

BlackBerry® PlayBook Front Courtesy of Research In Motion

“We currently have the largest international footprint of any MP3 digital music seller and we look forward to expanding our business with RIM throughout the year.”

BlackBerry® PlayBook  Courtesy of Research In Motion

“The 7digital Music Store is a perfect complement to the high-performance BlackBerry PlayBook, providing users with fast searches and downloads, and a slick interface that makes it very easy to discover, purchase and enjoy music,” said Alistair Mitchell, Vice President, BBM Platform & Integrated Services.
“We are thrilled to be working with 7digital to provide BlackBerry PlayBook users with access to an amazing catalog of 13 million tracks.”

BlackBerry® PlayBook   Courtesy of Research In Motion

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet running the 7digital Music Store application will be previewed this week at the South by South West conference in Austin, Texas.


About 7digital


7digital is a leading digital media delivery company based in London and operating globally.

Through 7digital’s download store ( www.7digital.com ) consumers can access over 13 million legal high quality MP3 music tracks as well as audiobooks and videos at competitive prices across Europe and North America.

Combining 7digital’s secure and robust technology platform with the broadest agreements in the digital media industry, the company provides comprehensive digital download services to a wide range of partners around the world.

7digital has worked with record companies, artists, FMCG brands, retailers, consumer electronics companies, fashion brands, advertising agencies and many other organisations to harness the power of digital entertainment, music, video, audiobooks and ebooks, to engage customers.

For more information visit www.7digital.com/business 

7digital has provided digital media services to over 500 partners including: RIM, Samsung, Toshiba, HMV, Spotify, Imagination Technologies, Universal Music, EMI, Warner Music, Sony Music, Waterstone’s, AOL/Winamp, Imerge, Nestlé, Hugo Boss, Yahoo!, Amnesty International and Adidas, and have delivered tens of millions of digital products in over 30 countries.

Visit www.7digital.com  


About Research In Motion


Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999.

Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day.

Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Research In Motion Office Courtesy of Research In Motion

RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM).

For more information, visit

www.rim.com  or www.blackberry.com  


SOURCE: Research In Motion

http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=4874  



David Yach

Chief Technology Officer, Software at Research In Motion

David Yach Courtesy of Research In Motion

David Yach is the CTO for Software at Research In Motion.
David oversees and manages the development of software that has helped RIM become a world leader in the mobile communications market.

David's teams create software ranging from the BlackBerry Enterprise Server to the applications, operating systems and radio firmware on BlackBerry smartphones.

Prior to joining RIM in 1998, David held various leadership positions at Sybase Inc.

David holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.


SOURCE: Research In Motion

http://www.rim.com/newsroom/mediaexecutive/  



Ben Drury

CEO and Founder, 7digital

Ben Drury Courtesy of 7digital

Ben Drury began his career in 1996 as a founder of dotmusic.com, an internal venture at United News and Media.
Dotmusic quickly became a leading online music destination attracting over 1.8m unique users per month (in 1999).

In 2000 Ben was headhunted by BT Group to head up the broadband music efforts at their ISP BT Openworld.
As Head of Music at BT, Ben successfully launched a major music channel before leading the acquisition of his old company dotmusic in 2002.

At BT, Ben pioneered music and video downloads on dotmusic with the UK’s first unlimited subscription offer.
Following the partnership between BT and Yahoo! to form BT Yahoo! in 2003, Ben engineered the sale of dotmusic to Yahoo! for approx. £3.3m.
Ben then founded 7digital with James Kane in 2004 with the vision of creating a digital media marketplace.
Tapping into the burgeoning demand for digital media, 7digital operates services that bring together suppliers and consumers of digital media.

In September 2008 7digital.com was the first company in Europe to launch DRM-free MP3 downloads with all four major record labels.
In September 2009 HMV Group acquired a 50% equity stake in 7digital with an investment of £7.7m.

Ben was named by Growing Business magazine as a Young Gun 2006 – the award for leading entrepreneurs under 35 and in 2007, 7digital was awarded the prestigious Red Herring award Top 100 Europe Award as one of the most promising technology companies in Europe.

In 2008, Ben was a finalist in Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.

As of January 2010, 7digital employs 57 people in London and has over 1.7 million registered customers.

Ben graduated from King’s College London with BSc (Hons) Physics with Philosophy of Science.

Ben is also the Deputy Chairman and Director of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) and is a board director the Official UK Charts Company


SOURCE: 7digital

http://www.rim.com/newsroom/mediaexecutive/  


Video
Mike Lazaridis Keynote at Mobile World Congress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJsIMLkFDcQ  



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