Verizon Wireless is hoping it can make better music as part of a trio than it did singing solo.The carrier last week announced a partnership with MTV Networks and RealNetworks Inc. to challenge Apple Inc.'s dominant iTunes service. MTV will shutter its Urge music...
Personalization refers to the way consumers use mobile content as kind of a bumper sticker, telling others who they are and what they think. It won't be long, though, before users will be placing those bumper stickers on your phone-not theirs.Ringback tones were the...
Verizon Wireless is teaming with MTV Networks and RealNetworks Inc. to take on Apple Inc.'s iTunes service.MTV is shuttering its Urge music download service and will integrate components of the offering with RealNetworks' Rhapsody, an online music subscription service. Verizon Wireless will serve as...
TIER-ONE CARRIERS IN THE FALL OF 2004 committed that they would be fully MMS-interoperable, enabling U.S. consumers to send photos, video clips and other goodies to users on any other nationwide network.We're still waiting.U.S. network operators generally claim to be fully interoperable with their...
SANTA MONICA, Calif.-If there ever was a first shot fired in the battle toward a digital age, the music industry was likely the first to hear it. By the close of the 20th century, all the music industry suits were feeling the heat.Where record...
RealNetworks Inc. expanded its mobile entertainment business with the $9 million acquisition of Sony NetServices.A joint venture between Sony DADC and Sony Europe, Sony NetServices targets carriers in eight European markets with white-label music services. The company's technology powers on-demand music and video offerings...
RealNetworks Inc. expanded its mobile entertainment business with the $9 million acquisition of Sony NetServices.A joint venture between Sony DADC and Sony Europe, Sony NetServices targets carriers in eight European markets with white-label music services. The company's technology powers on-demand music and video offerings...
Tira Wireless this week unveiled an upgrade of its porting technology, adding features that allow developers to automatically tweak applications across handsets.The Toronto-based company is boosting its Jump platform with "Jumplets"-customized components that can be used time and again with different builds. The J2ME-compatible...
The mobile-phone industry has jumped into a major Internet music rate case in a New York federal court. The outcome could determine whether cellular carriers, and thus subscribers could be forced to pay more-actually twice-for downloading ringtones. It's not a rinky-dink matter. Ringtones,...
While Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. lumber around the nascent mobile music playground looking to "own the customer," Cingular Wireless L.L.C. hopes to attract music lovers by playing nice. The nation's largest wireless operator last week finally joined the full-track wireless music arena,...
RealNetworks Inc. is buying itself a bigger space on the wireless entertainment playground with a $350 million acquisition of South Korean-based developer WiderThan Co. Ltd. The Seattle-based digital media company said it will spend $17.05 per share to acquire WiderThan, which provides ringback tones,...
And welcome to a special CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2006 edition of our column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry—especially at trade shows—so this column is a chance for us at RCR to...
RealNetworks Inc. is buying itself a bigger space on the wireless entertainment playground with a $350 million acquisition of South Korean-based developer WiderThan Co. Ltd. The Seattle-based digital media company said it will spend $17.05 per share to acquire WiderThan, which provides ringback tones,...
ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. expanded its mobile TV offerings, launching a streaming video service featuring short clips from 18 channels. Cingular Video is available free to subscribers purchasing the carrier’s unlimited 3G data plan, which costs $20 a month. Content providers for the service include...
TOKYO—Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it hopes to expand its streaming video offerings through a new deal with Internet company RealNetworks Inc. DoCoMo said it has signed a tentative agreement to install RealNetworks’ Helix Mobile servers, which is designed to give content providers...
LAS VEGAS-The much-hyped "year of mobile music" started off with a bang here at last week's 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show. But whether wireless consumers will sign on-and where mobile operators will fit in the value chain-is still very much in question. Verizon Wireless...
If Amp'd Mobile Inc.'s bargain-basement full-track download music service was designed to get attention, it's working. The recently launched mobile virtual network operator made headlines a few weeks ago when it said it would match the price of Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service, selling...
SEATTLE-RealNetworks Inc. is targeting businesses, governmental agencies and educational institutions by mobilizing its Helix technology.The company unveiled the newest version of its Helix Server Unlimited, which is designed to deliver streaming content to both fixed-line and wireless devices. The updated server supports 3GPP technology,...
REDMOND, Wash.-Microsoft Corp.'s mobile business neared profitability, and strong demand for the company's PC and corporate server software helped it beat profit estimates during its first quarter.The software giant reported $74 million in revenue from its mobile and embedded devices business, up 50 percent...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to launch additional mobile TV services later this year using a platform from RealNetworks Inc. The supplier said its new Helix OnlineTV solution will enable Cingular to offer its third-generation subscribers personal interactive TV on their mobile devices.RealNetworks' deal with...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to launch additional mobile TV services later this year using a platform from RealNetworks Inc. The supplier said its new Helix OnlineTV solution will enable Cingular to offer its third-generation subscribers personal interactive TV on their mobile devices. RealNetworks' deal...
Sprint Nextel Corp. this week plans to announce its fourth music service, a wireless version of RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody Radio. The offering includes five channels of streaming audio including alternative, pop, urban and country music, as well as podcasts from a California National Public...
Mobile TV got another boost from SmartVideo Technologies Inc., which announced an advertising-supported streaming music video service for mobile-phone users. The service will feature videos culled from Digital Music Video Network and will be free to end users."Fans of music videos are members of...
RealNetworks Inc. announced plans to join the crowded mobile gaming playground, acquiring European publisher Mr. Goodliving for $15 million in cash. A 40-person company based in Helsinki, Finland, Mr. Goodliving has enjoyed success with mobile titles like "Trivial Pursuit," "MetalSmash Pinball" and the "Playman"...
