BlackBerry Introduces BlackBerry Radio (Select Beta)

BlackBerry announced today that a select BlackBerry Beta Zone users in the United States will get the opportunity to test out an upcoming radio discovery app, BlackBerry Radio, and provide feedback to help us perfect it. This app will put multiple mobile radio services at your fingertips with no set-up and no cost for the beta user beyond their standard data plan costs.

BlackBerry Radio is not a traditional radio app, but instead works with multiple radio apps to make the process of finding and listening to radio on a BlackBerry smartphone quicker, easier and more integrated by presenting a sampling of services from some of our most popular partners.

Here are four things you should know about BlackBerry Radio:

1. Simple discovery

With BlackBerry Radio, you can access popular digital radio services from one place.

 

For example, users can choose from preset genre-based radio channels provided by popular radio services. BlackBerry Radio features a combination of Internet radio (including Slacker) and terrestrial radio (including Clear Channel, Corus, and others). Music discovery from within BlackBerry Radio is also simple, as you can choose from a variety of genres like Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz and more, with just one click.

2. Easy access to radio apps for more stations and features

If you really enjoy the channels provided by Slacker, for example, you can easily download their premium radio app at any time from within BlackBerry Radio.

3. Seamless integration into the BlackBerry Media Experience

While listening to music streams from participating radio partners, users in the US will have quick access to the recently launched Amazon MP3 storefront to purchase songs currently playing. Users can also access BlackBerry Radio at any time from within the music menu on their BlackBerry smartphone.

4. Trying services out – for no additional cost!

With BlackBerry Radio, you will be able to sample all of the various preset stations even if you aren’t subscribed to the partner service(s).

For now, this app is only available to beta testers in the US, but we’ll keep you posted once this app is available for all to enjoy. If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone user to try out BlackBerry Radio and other great beta apps.