Today’s world keeps moving at a breakneck pace, almost too fast for its stewards to reasonably be able to keep up. We’ve had to adapt constantly, keeping things moving and keeping ourselves abreast of the way the world runs, with reorganizations, new paradigms and plenty of other measures besides. It’s no accident, then, that mobile phones have become entrenched in our consciousness – as well as in our hands, pockets and bags – as indispensable daily-use items that help us manage the intense workloads and schedules we typically have to keep. Mobile content, thus, has found its niche as a strong commodity spinning out of the popularity of mobile phones and the continued onslaught of both entertainment and work alongside technology.
As a matter of fact, mobile content has emerged as such a force that companies from all over are scrambling to stake their ground in preparation for the next round of mobile media battles – which seems to be centered around streaming music. Apple, who emerged a clear frontrunner for this round with a strong mobile hardware and software presence with its iPhone and accompanying iTunes digital storefront, has acquired streaming-media property Lala, while Google has for its part made similar moves by acquiring Simplify Media. Now longtime printer and hardware manufacturer HP has seemingly made inroads of its own into the next stage of the game, first capitalizing on the availability of the beleaguered Palm to the tune of $1.2 billion [a move that HP says will let them expand and maximize Palm’s webOS], and now purchasing Lala competitor Melodeo for for $30 o $35 million.
This move would mark an unusual and seemingly uncharacteristic turn for the laptop manufacturer, if not for the recently-developed context in which it found itself. After having bagged Melodeo, HP now finds itself a potential mobile music service competitor. The Seattle-based company uses cloud technology to stream music to mobile apps, most notably its popular product line nuTsie [notice the iTunes anagram, down to “T” being the only uppercase letter?]. Indeed, the parallels run deeper than the name, as nuTsie’s flagship service works by scanning your iTunes playlists and allowing your mobile handset to access them in shuffle mode. The company’s proprietary recommendation engine also allows for a discovery mode of sorts where you can check others’ playlists and find songs you might like. The existing service depends on the platform you access it through [Android, for instance, calls for a one-time $9.95 download fee while Verizon has some models that let you get the service for $2.99].
Melodeo brings to the table applications for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone platform smartphones, as well as strong carrier partnerships – with strong carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Sprint. Part of their portfolio also includes distribution deals with the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Thumbplay and Handmark. The upcoming nuTsie 3.0 will even allow users to access their content from multiple device platforms, thanks to the ability to copy an entire library into the cloud.
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