The Irish rock group U2 is moving on with a new corporate partner, at least for its upcoming dance across the globe. The tour begins June 30 in Barcelona, Spain, with the kickoff to the band's Live Nation tour to support its new "No Line on the Horizon'' album. The tour will be sponsored by Research In Motion, whose decidedly staid BlackBerry is being challenged by Apple's gadget eye candy iPhone.

"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," U2 manager Paul McGuinness said. "We look forward to sharing more details as the relationship unfolds."

It wasn't long ago that Apple and U2 were joined at the, uh, iPod

In 2004, lead singer Bono and the guitarist known as Edge joined Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs on the stage of the newly restored California Theatre in San Jose to announce an unprecedented marketing partnership between U2 and the Cupertino technology company.

Then came the jet-black iPod U2 Special Edition.

"This love affair between Steve Jobs and Bono — I don't know," Needham analyst Charles Wolf said. "Hey, it's a democracy. Bono was hanging out with Bill Gates for a while."

Alas, money is thicker than love.