Billed by commentators as a way for BlackBerry to play catch-up before the deal had even been closed, RIM has acquired Dublin-based white-label cloud content specialist NewBay for a reported $100 million.

The purchase, which will enable RIM to compete against the likes of Apple's iCloud and Amazon's Cloud Drive, represents RIM's first move into the Irish market, with The Irish Times reporting the firm and its 200 strong workforce will remain in the country's capital.

Building BlackBerry

NewBay manages a white-label platform that allows users to store digital content such as pictures and videos in the cloud.

The firm, which boasts more than 80 million subscribers worldwide, has deals in place with the likes of T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica O2, France Telecom Orange, US Cellular, ATT, Telstra and Verizon in place.

Either company is yet to comment on the deal, though RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky has told the press he believe RIM will build on top of NewBay's internet-based photo and video albums, address books, and calendars.

"RIM is coming later to market than competitive offerings" from Apple's iCloud, Amazon.com's Cloud Drive and services from Google," he said.

"It's not known yet whether RIM's offering will match or lag the content and user experience of competitors."

[source: AllThingsD]