Distorted-Loop.com

Recall back in the day when U2 and Apple were bosom-buddies? Well, in the world of corporate sponsorship, everything is change, and Bono’s band today introduced their own take on the iTunes LP with the release of a new U2 Mobile App, not for iPhone, but for BlackBerry.

In a direct emulation of Apple’s iTunes LP and App Store, U2 and BlackBerry maker, RIM, claim the new app, “invigorates the album experience for the digital age.”

Developed in collaboration with the band, the app promises “a rich visual experience with evolving content and an interactive dimension for the band’s current Number 1 album No Line On The Horizon.

The application  is now available for free on BlackBerry App WorldTM and from www.blackberry.com/u2.

Material includes photos and other information that once brought the listener closer to the artist in the day of albums and CDs and that, you know, except digitally (we do think it’s going to take a little more than glorified portable websites to reinvigorate the album format, by the way, how about offering de luxe collector’s edition vinyl albums in highly limited editions to fans who purchase the album and download combo, for example. Make physical sexy. It’s not rocket science, though plainly the lawyers in the music business don’t get that notion).

“As music fans, the band has always enjoyed all the detail of an album gatefold or CD booklet. They want to make visual material available with their albums and this app is the ideal way to do it,” said U2-manager, Paul McGuinness.

The new U2 Mobile Album is a free, downloadable application for BlackBerry smartphones that brings together a range of content for fans with photos, videos, interviews, news, lyrics and samples of the music, plus individual tracks or the complete album can be purchased online from a BlackBerry smartphone.

A second phase of the application is also already in the works, which will add social networking elements that engage fans around the world.

“With today’s announcement, we are reinventing the album experience for the digital age. We’re extremely excited by the U2 Mobile Album and the opportunity to enhance the mobile music experience for U2 fans on the BlackBerry platform,” said Jeff McDowell, vice president, Global Alliances, Research In Motion.