Amp’d Q attacks walled garden with Orb, Sling software

Mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. announced it will begin selling Motorola Inc.’s Q smartphone starting next month. And the device has the Amp’d approach to wireless entertainment written all over it-the Amp’d Q marks the first time a U.S. wireless provider will package a device with Sling Media Inc.’s SlingPlayer Mobile and Orb Networks Inc.’s place-shifting software pre-installed.
SlingPlayer Mobile enables SlingBox owners to watch TV on any smartphone running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 5.0, Symbian or Palm OS with no monthly fees aside from carrier data charges. Orb’s software allows users to access their home cable TV and digital music from any Web-enabled device, including mobile phones.
It’s no wonder the new place-shifting platforms are being talked about in hushed tones in the industry. Predictably, carriers and content providers view these companies with unease as they look to mobile video and other carrier-controlled 3G services as a crucial way to make up for sagging voice revenues. SlingMedia has also come under fire from cable TV companies and content owners that claim the company is taking proprietary content and unfairly distributing it. At least some network operators are warming to the idea of place-shifting-or at least acquiescing as of late.
“We’re in the mobile entertainment business, that’s what we do,” Amp’d President Bill Stone said. “Sling and Orb’s our natural extension of that for people that want entertainment on the go.”
With both applications already readily available as off-deck downloads to devices, Stone said more power lies in being “able to market it and control it without it being a rogue application out there.”
Amp’d doesn’t want to be known as a walled garden. “People today that are young want to consume content,” Stone said.
“With the increased acceptability of smartphones among consumers, the Moto Q, Amp’d Edition provides our youth demographic an open platform approach to our unique entertainment experience,” Amp’d Mobile Founder and CEO Peter Adderton said. “Amp’d users will have access to 24 live TV channels, 55 video-on-demand channels, one million downloadable songs, stereo Bluetooth, 3D games and access to all online social networks, as well as any Windows Mobile application.”
Amp’d Mobile’s Motorola Q will include dual, stereo-quality speakers, stereo Bluetooth, a QWERTY keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera and a mini-SD removable memory card slot.
In other news, Amp’d launched its service last Monday in Canada and March 1 in Japan.