Alicia Keys named as Blackberry Creative Director

About

American singer/songwriter Alicia Keys has been revealed as the global creative director for BlackBerry and is to work closely with developers and retailers to promote the brand, coinciding with the launch of its latest generation product. There are two new devices which will run the revamped BlackBerry 10 operating system. And the firm – now rebranding itself simply as BlackBerry – hopes the new phones and OS will help it compete with Apple and phones which use Google’s Android operating system.

Speaking at the launch in New York, company boss Thorsten Heins said he thinks the devices will “transform mobile communication into true mobile computing”.

He also claimed the operating system will go “beyond anything you’ve seen before”

Keys, who announced the exclusive relationship with the brand at the US launch of the BlackBerry 10, commented; “I’m fascinated by technology. I’ve always wanted to work directly with a technology company,” Alicia said (via Mashable). “I wanted to do something where I could grow professionally and personally.”

“Now we’re exclusively dating again, and I’m very happy,” Alicia said after joking about using other smartphones in the past.

“Alicia Keys has come to BlackBerry because she believes in the product and technology, and subscribes to our overriding philosophy to ‘Keep Moving’: to empower people through mobile computing and communications,” said BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins. “We are excited she will be bringing to us her enormous capabilities, as well as a vast network of relationships in the entertainment, social media and business communities, to help shape our brand and grow our business.”

From music to books, to film, to apps, Keys will lead the charge of enhancing entertainment consumption and distribution, through the power of BlackBerry 10.

The new OS will have 70,000 apps available on launch – including Angry Birds, Skype and Kindle.