Ticketmaster, RIM Partner For BlackBerry Mobile Ticketing

By Mitchell Peters, L.A.Ticketmaster has partnered with mobile company Research In Motion (RIM) to designate the BlackBerry as the official smartphone of Ticketmaster, Billboard.biz has learned. Through the agreement, BlackBerry users can browse and purchase tickets to live entertainment events via ticketmaster.com, ticketsnow.com and getmein.com. The deal is exclusive to BlackBerry users in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.Ticketmaster and RIM are currently co-developing the software that will enable BlackBerry owners to purchase tickets through their mobile devices. The software will be available for free via ticketmaster.com before the end of the year, a Ticketmaster spokesperson tells Billboard.biz. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.In addition, BlackBerry users will receive e-mail alerts with news and information about upcoming events in music, sporting and family entertainment. "Our new agreement with RIM ushers in the next generation of lifestyle innovation designed to conveniently connect fans to live entertainment," Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty said in a statement.The partnership between Ticketmaster and RIM will be announced later this morning by RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie at the CTIA conference in San Francisco.