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Rhapsody brings subscription music to the iPhone, pending Apple's approval

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 24th 2009 @ 10:53AM

If the maniacs at RealNetworks have their way, you'll soon be rockin' out to Rhapsody on your iPhone or iPod touch, streaming all those pop tunes you crave over WiFi, Edge, or 3G, courtesy of your $15 Rhapsody ToGo account -- pending approval from Apple, of course. Sure, we can't imagine the company allowing Pandora but dissing Rhapsody, but stranger things have happened. If this isn't enough to get subscription music fans spinning in their office chairs, the company is also working diligently on Rhapsody for other mobile platforms and carrier app stores, including Google Android. And there's more! Check out the app in all its glory -- on video, no less -- after the break.

[Via PC World]

Continue reading Rhapsody brings subscription music to the iPhone, pending Apple's approval

Report: Nokia's Comes With Music not selling very well in the UK

by Laura June posted Apr 22nd 2009 @ 5:31PM

After hearing initial reports that Nokia's Comes With Music subscription service was doing "okay," word on the streets is now... even less good. According to estimates released by Music Ally at an Association of Independent Music conference in London, Nokia's gotten about 23,000 subscribers to the service since it launched last October. That's not a great number, if it's anywhere near accurate... though Nokia has "refused to confirm" whether or not it is. Tim Grimsditch, head of Nokia's product marketing division added that it's "a very new business model, we're live in five markets and the numbers only mention one. We're going to continue to develop the model and fine tune how we market it." That said, the report can't be terribly heartening either way you slice it, and is rather reminiscent of N-Gage's niche market status if you ask us.

Palm's subscription accounting webOS plans revealed, CPAs rejoice

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2009 @ 9:31AM

Palm fans hoping webOS gets the same kind of upgrade attention Apple's been lavishing on the iPhone take note: a deck of presentation slides has revealed plans to recognize revenue from webOS products over two years using subscription accounting, so Palm can "periodically provide new software features free or charge" to customers of its "webOS products, including the recently announced Pre." If that didn't make any sense to the non-suits out there, just remember this bit of number magic is why Apple treats iPhone and iPod touch users differently when it comes to updates -- the iPod doesn't get 3.0 for free because Apple doesn't handle the math this way. At any rate, number crunchers and MAC students can head on down to the read link for lots more invigorating stuff.

Nokia's Comes With Music service said to be selling "okay"

by Darren Murph posted Jan 3rd 2009 @ 9:54PM

It's a tough time to be selling mobile phones, let alone mobile phone add-ons, and that's evidenced by a recent report that Nokia's Comes With Music service is simply doing so-so. A Financial Times piece on Nokia's ability to survive the current economy briefly mentions the CwM service, quoting an unnamed source as saying that "initial sales had been okay, but not earth shattering." Not surprisingly, it was presumed that many budget-strapped consumers were shying away given that most of their favorite tunes could be acquired gratis via the intarwebz. Still, we can imagine this gaining way more traction than its foray into handset gaming, but the refusal of the major UK carriers to stock CwM-equipped handset sure isn't helping matters.

[Via mocoNews]

Sprint Arcade brings subscription-based gaming to the mobile

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2007 @ 1:40AM

We're not exactly sure how huge an audience there will be for subscription-based gaming on the cellphone, but nevertheless, Sprint is all set to find out. Announced at the Electronics for All Expo, the aptly-named Sprint Arcade will bring a number of titles from EA Mobile to "most data-enabled Sprint phones" for $9.99 per month. Among the titles listed are Sudoku, Mini Golf, Mahjong, Hearts, Air Hockey and Blue Blocks, but the carrier is already promising that more are on the horizon. Separately, the firm also proclaimed that it had partnered up with Namco Networks to bring Sprint users a mobile version of the Popeye arcade game, but it failed to cough up any pricing details to go along with it. So, anyone buying in? Or is that sound we hear the collective balking of Sprint customers everywhere?

Sprint to ditch traditional contracts with Xohm, rely on subscriptions

by Darren Murph posted Sep 29th 2007 @ 12:24PM

We've yet to find an average joe (or jane) who just adores that two-year agreement they signed to receive a single subsidized device on day one, and while Sprint hasn't been one to let folks off the hook early, it is trying a slightly different approach with Xohm. Reportedly, the carrier will be relying on "subscriptions," which will enable customers to save more when paying for larger chunks of time, while not forcing them into anything long-term. On the same token, this also means that you'll likely be paying full price for any hardware. Notably, the outfit's CTO also made clear that Xohm "would not be backed by what the industry calls service-level agreements," so don't count on any kind of minimum bandwidth guarantee. As for pricing, the numbers are apparently still being worked, but it was suggested that the service would "probably be based on tiers."

[Via TechDirt, image courtesy of BroadbandReports]