In other Rock and Roll news, U2 has chosen Blackberry to be the lead sponsor of its upcoming 360 Degrees tour, set to kick off with a June 30th show in Barcelona, Spain and travel across Europe during the summer, before crossing the Atlantic for the first US date at Soldier Field in Chicago September 12th.
The band, which famously stood with Steve Jobs in 2004 and launched a special edition iPod, said at the time, “We want our audience to have a more intimate online relationship with the band, and Apple can help us do that.”
Now, after five years in which Jobs has supposedly raked the music industry over the coals with his tough iTunes pricing negotiations, either the band feels that mission’s been accomplished, or perhaps its record company has merely had enough.
In any event, Bono, U2’s lead singer and most identifiable public figure, is a partner in the firm Elevation Partners which holds a 39 percent ownership stake in Palm, whose highly anticipated Pre smartphone is slated to debut around the time the band’s tour kicks off.
In a statement about the partnership with Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry, Paul McGuinness, U2’s manager, said, “This tour announcement marks the first stage of a relationship and shared vision between RIM and U2 that we expect will lead to new and innovative ways to enhance the mobile music experience on the BlackBerry platform for U2 fans.”
It might be tempting to read an emotional component into U2’s “rejection” of Apple and its public embrace of a major competitor, but the greatest likelihood is that — as the old saying goes — it’s just business.
