RIM's BlackBerry Messenger v6.1 beta touts new personalization options

Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) released the beta version of its BlackBerry Messenger v6.1 instant messaging application, introducing a series of new personalization tools.

BBM users can now customize the color of chat bubbles for contacts.

Available for download via RIM's BlackBerry Beta Zone consumer trial program, BlackBerry Messenger v6.1 incorporates many features requested by the BBM community and beta testers. Highlights include three new avatars that leverage controlled animation, meaning that motion is activated by user scrolling, as well as 12 new emoticons. BBM v6.1 also increases the character count for personal messages to 160, adds customized colors for chat bubbles and introduces camera/display photo integration.

Earlier this month, RIM launched the cloud-based BBM Music service, enabling the manufacturer's 45 million BlackBerry Messenger users to build evolving, community-based music libraries shared among their friends. BBM Music users build personal music profiles featuring 50 of their favorite songs, with the flexibility to swap out as many as 25 songs each month--as BlackBerry Messenger contacts join their BBM Music Community, music from each new profile becomes available to other community members, meaning a BlackBerry owner with 25 BBM Music friends could expand their library to 1,300 full-length songs.

For more:
- read this Inside BlackBerry blog entry

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