RIM launches BBM Music

But only for residents of the US, Canada and Oz.

RIM will be counting on BBM Music to restore confidence among its consumers and presumably anxious investors following a series of poor performances in the form of weak sales, service failure and lawsuits.

BBM Music is a premium social streaming service that allows users to listen to up to 50 songs from a library of millions.

In addition to the user's personal 50, for every one of their BBM contacts using the service the user will be able to access their friends music. Personal selections can only be changed monthly so RIM will be counting on users inviting friends to join in order to listen to more songs.

The service allows comments to promote interaction and music activity is captured in real-time on the homescreen timeline. Favourites can be saved to the device for offline listening and there's also an option to purchase the song from the Amazon MP3 Music Store.

Music streaming has seen widespread adoption worldwide and in particular that of Spotify, which has recently been developed for some BlackBerry devices. It's likely RIM will be looking to capitalise on users whose models have been neglected.