Back in the early 90s the must have app to was email, and Blackberry was all over it like white on rice.  These days though, email is given just as much as making a call is.  To keep pace with the iPhone and other emerging smartphones, Blackberry announced the launch of 5 new lifestyle apps today, on top of their already popular – 2.5 million popular – Facebook application.  So what did they add?  Integrated Microsoft search (why bother), Tivo, MySpace, Ticketmaster and Slacker Music.

The coolest of the two have to be the Tivo and Slacker Music app.  The Tivo app will allow users to search their already recorded shows, schedule shows to record and will eventually be able to stream their recordings on their phone.  The Slacker app builds on top of the Slack Radio service, which is entirely free and automatically picks additional music once the user has indicated likes and dislikes.  Users will also be able to store music on their phone via the Slacker service and sync their tunes anytime a WiFi hotspot is available, something Pandora for the iPhone can’t and won’t do.

[Cnet]