But overshadowing all this talk of new music players and services is, of course, the magical combination of the iPhone and iTunes. Clearly there are a lot of music phones coming out but what is not clear to the consumers, namely because of the iPhone hype, is that these services exist and what they can or cannot do.
Take the following article on CNET that was posted today. According the report mobile music still has a long way to go, even when it comes to Apple.
There are still lots of issues that need to be worked out before mobile music can really live up to the hype, say experts. From their difficulties with incompatible digital rights management technology to their struggles with short battery lives and poor user interfaces, mobile operators and handset makers have a long way to go before the experience of purchasing and listening to music on mobile phones–even the ones made by Apple–lives up to consumer expectations.
I would also add to this fact the fact that the Apple phone will only be working on AT&T’s Edge network, not a very happy download user experience compared to, say, downloading music off of Sprints EVDO network. So agrees CNET
While new music-playing phones should spur excitement among consumers, there are still issues that need to be worked out. One of the major hurdles will be making sure people can buy and transfer music easily onto their wireless devices. The ability to download music over the air is seen as a crucial piece of this puzzle–and it’s something the iPhone can’t do.
Neverthless, the article points out, carriers and manufacturers are making it easier for people to “learn” or “realize” that there phone can replace their iPod.
Clearly the winner in this game will take a combination of carrier and handset relationship but will ultimately, in my opinion, rely on the ability to download music over the air. Perhaps companies will do it before the iPhone can and perhaps people wont care, perhaps they will side-install music until they can proactively get their music anytime any where… but perhaps they will realize the hype part of hype when it comes to the iPhone and thus, perhaps they go where the downloads can land.
But even in this area there are a bunch of kinks that need to be worked out. Songs purchased over a cellular network can be used only on specific handsets. The limitation is due in large part to the fact that mobile operators use different digital rights management technology to distribute copyrighted songs. Thats something people who are already using iPods are used to.
The real key, for many many reasons, is for the operators to “get together” and rally around some sort of DRM standard so there is interoperability among devices. But we know how hard it is to get competitors to get together on anything. Through Apple into the equation and there is a whole new loop in the game.
Thanks to my brother for pointing this out. Textango allows any artist to sell their music via text message to anyone, anywhere in the United States with a cell phone*. The purchase is billed to the customer’s cell phone bill via PSMS, and the music is available for pick-up at the Textango website. Essentially, Textango allows anyone to purchase music using their cell phones as credit cards!
Its a lot like Mozes.com expect with music buying capability.
Artists simply sign into Textango and get a keyword for the music you want to sell. When customers send that keyword to 23333 they will be asked if they want to buy the album. If they text back “Y” they will receive another text message telling them to go to texango.com and enter a pin code to redeem and download the music. The music is in Mp3 format and it can easily be transferred into customers’ iPods, or burned onto audio CDs.
But Textango goes way beyond music. Artists can also sell their very own ringtones, videotones, and wall papers which can be sent directly to the customer’s hand-sets!
Textango of course gets a cut of the profits but not a bad idea… at least until real time music downloading becomes possible. But then again, for indy musicians this is still a great service for impromptu ubiquitous music sales… saving money on CD’s and all that.
So, I am working on this project in New York with Mystrands that Carlo over at MobHappy wrote a nice post about. Mystrands, for those of you that don’t know, is a music recommendation software that works on a social networking like platform from your PC. The Mystrands project I am working on is called PartyStrands and it is, as Carlo put it, an application which connects people at a bar or club through music and their mobile phones.
It’s fairly straightforward: PartyStrands is software that works with iTunes or Windows Media Player; a bar owner could run it on a PC that’s loaded with music tracks, and by using one artist as a starting point, it keeps churning out related tunes from the music library. It gets much more interesting, though — as users come in, they can “join the party†by sending an SMS in with an alias, and their favorite artist. As more users join, the playlist gets influenced by their collective taste in music. If you’re already a MusicStrands user, you can join with your username, and it will take your entire profile into account. PartyStrands is designed to run on a video projector or other large screen, so it can show the current track that’s playing and album art, while users can also send text messages to be displayed, and eventually pictures as well.
The bar can post important messages like “last call” and “2 dollar margarita’s.” Games and chat will also soon be available and, in case you where wondering both the bar and Mystrands make money on a premium SMS basis. Partystrands runs as an option of the Mystrands. To get an idea of what it looks like in action you can go here.
So I have been helping with the “bar initiation” here in New York and so far we got some really cool ones set up. To get an idea of what it looks like you can check. I will keep you informed about where the first party will be. You are all, of course, invited.
As an amateur musician / guitar player from a family of amateur musicians I guess you could say that I have been waiting for an application like this for a long long time. Yamaha’s Musicians Companion (really, I guess you could say Guitarists Companion) is one of the phone applications that just makes sense to musicians… why should I not have a chord reference, metronome and pitch pipe (for tuning) on my phone.
The project is only one of what Yanaha Wireless says will be a slew of mobile applications for musicians. The Musician’s Companion is available for a one-time $9.99 purchase, which via Bango can be charged directly to your monthly cell phone bill .
It was really easy to install, extremely easy to use and every musician I have showed it to has wanted it immediately… which was really easy to do because the program, being from Cascada Mobile, is equipped with Cascada’s extremely viral “tell a friend” feature which allows me to sing a SMS wap push to any of my friends for them to download.
My only complaint about the whole process was that nowhere did they say which phones supported the platform. The website shows Music Companion running on a Motorola Razr. I gambled and paid the 9.99 to try and download it on my N70. It worked. But Yamaha really should put a “supporting phones” info on the website.
What I also would have like to see on the application would be an actual tuner that showed you and guided you back to tuned bliss instead of just trying to tune to a pitch guide.
I have seen these for a PC so I know its possible
Other than that, a really cool and obvious feature. Get it and rock on!
A recent article by Carlo on MobHappy on being able to receive and respond to text messages via a computer, reminded me of a service that I often use but never blogged about here on MOPocket. I would say that I have been using Salling Clicker (click here for PC version), a software provided by Salling Software, for almost two years now… first on my Treo 650 and later on the various S60 Nokia phones I have had the pleasure of having.
Salling Clicker essentially turns your supported phone into a remote control allowing you to access and control things on your computer such as iTunes, Keynote or Powerpoint, the DvD player, VLC, QuickTime, Mail, iPhoto, Volume, Sleep and even the Mouse (although this is a lot more easier and fun on the Treo touch screen then on a Nokia). But it does not just act as a remote controlling things on the PC screen. The phone screen itself acts as a third screen and presents the relevant information on there as well. I cant tell you how many times I have gotten into bed and heard my email alarm go off and instead of getting up to see who it is I just picked up my phone, connected to my Mac using Salling Clicker and open the mail. When you play a song from your iTunes using Salling Clickr the song and cover art appear on your phone as well (its also a great way to control your music while hosting a a party at your house).
I also get a lot of ooohs and ahhhs when I use my mobile phone to sift through a power point presentation (slides do not appear on your phone though, an d neither do photos via using the iPhoto remote feature).
Now, besides letting you control virtually every component of your computer with your cell phone like a remote control it also has a few calling and phone like feature that are worth mentioning. Phones that are capable of handling what is Salling is calling “Phone Events” allow a user to activate proximity and phone call monitoring, allowing things like your computer alerting you when you have a call (and sometimes by whom) as well as allowing iTunes, for instance, to pause when you receive that call.
There is also a feature, which is not supported on all phones, but allows you to go into your Address Book and send a text message to a mobile number which transfers through your cell phone via bluetooth connection.
Salling Clicker is one of those products and features that people 10 to 20 years in the future will look back at and say “duh.” They have tapped what the future of mobile should be, a a mobile extension of your PC self. When you get back home and sit in front of your computer all the stuff you do on your mobile should be able to be done from there. In the future I imagine this will happen a lot more seamlessly. Salling Clicker, thus far, is the closest thing that comes to that.
Salling Clickr is the winner of several Mac awards. Its nice to see a mobile application made for Macs first every once in a while.
The user experience is different for everybody as it really depends on your mobile device. Every device is different therefore ever interaction with a various program will be different but Salling has done an amazing job given the plethora of phones they have to work with it. I have used it on 4 phones and have enjoyed each experience.
Installing is pretty much a breeze with a bluetooth connection.
Download Salling Clickr and Buy it now. Current version 3.0.1
Hello! And Welcome To the 41nd Carnival of the Mobilists brought to you by MOpocket and Khosla Ventures who awards $250 to the author of the best post each month. This weeks Carnival also has a special dedication in honor of my parents Stuart and Paula Oberman (pictured above) who celebrated their 32nd Anniversary last Friday August 18th. My mother is looking for a new cell phone and is open to suggestions :-). I love you Mom and Dad, thanks for everything and I hope we celebrate another 32 anniversaries and more!
There are a lot of great contributions to this weeks carnival but before we get to them their is some Carnival and Mobilist business that we have to take care of. REMEMBER, IF YOU FIND YOUR BLOG MENTIONED HERE IT IS ONLY COMMON COURTESY TO LINK BACK. If you don’t my parents may be very disappointed in you ;-).
MY JEWISH MOTHER SAYS VOTE NOW!
My mother told me to remind you that If you have not already done so please go over to the Carnival website and vote for July’s best post. This is an essential part of the now well sponsored Carnival by Khosla Ventures and such great stuff should not go to waste, my mother says. Its always good to listen to your Jewish mother If you vote maybe she will cook you her famous brownies… yummmmm.
DAD SAYS LETS PARTY IN LA.
Always the party social networking man (he is the CEO of a major insurance brokerage firm) my father feels obliged to tell you about the 2nd CTIA Gathering Of The Mobilists and urges those interested to RSVP and attend. “My son and other influential mobilists will be there,” he says, “it would be insane not to try and make it. The event will be held at Cicada Restaurant on Tuesday September 12, 2006 and invitations are limited. For more information visit the information source for the event at Rudy’s M-Trends.
And by the way, if anyone out their is looking for insurance and or an insurance broker you should contact me as me and my brother can take special care of you. We have some amazing policies for technology companies and firms, even web freelancers. The company is a very well known and highly respected insurance brokerage.
And now, as my parents dance to their wedding song… I present to you this weeks Carnival of the Mobilists:
We Begin With Carnival Newcomers Or At Least Blogs That Are New To Me
Sprint’s $3bn 4G Gamble
Kevin Evan’s in Kevin’s Mobile Industry Commentary, a blog I just discovered because of the Carnival, talks about Sprint’s move to WiMax and, to be frank, tells it like it really is. [Read]
Access’s Latest Press Releases
Tam Hanna has a Palm specific blog titled TamsPalm: The Palm OS Blog in which he deconstructs Access’ latest press release about the growing momentum of Access’ Linux OS Platform for Palm. [Read]
Now Lets Talk About Mobile Influences On Our Lives And The Way We Live Them
Can Mobile Devices Help You Get Things Done?
Mat Miller over at ZDNet in his Mobile Gadgeteer Blog has a great article about the everyday life and mobile devices which discusses the ways in which we organize our lives and get things done via our mobiles. [Read]
Mobile Phones, Social Coordination, Urban Environments
Howard Rheingold from Smartmobs has an interesting little ditty on “hyper-cordination” and the way mobile technology is influencing our societal ergonomic discourses (especially regarding the philosophy of waiting). [Read]
Connecting Cultures Through Music
From the Mobilist daddy himself, Rudy De Waele of M-Trends.org sends in an article he wrote for Vodafones Reciever Magazine in which Rudy talks beautifully and eloquently about the ways in which mobile technology makes music into a social networking phenomena the likes of which we have never seen. While Rudy’s article is meant to be about music specifically it has some real buried treasures deep inside its discourse that can be used to discuss the greater impacts that mobile technology will have on our smartmobby like existence. [Read]
Lets Get Technical For A Moment Here
I am Now Cingular 3Gified! Or Am I?
My own submission to the Carnival in which I talk about my run in with Cingular’s (an America’s) UMTS and HSDPA standards, its technical difference with its European counterpart and why that means I can;t really use it yet. [Read]
People Over Process And IT In Mobile Workforces
Rod McLaren’s blog over at Mobbu has a really interesting article that I was intimidated by at first but then found actually really enjoyable and interesting. So don’t get the “IT” jargon get to you ever wanted to know if a synchronous/asynchronous data model between mobile device and a server mean that users can get horribly out of sync, leading to catastrophic real-world failures to public service infrastructures that need it the most you need not worry says McLaren. [Read]
The Mobile Service Architecture Specification
C. Enrique Ortiz in his same-named titled Mobility Weblog points to an article he wrote in the Sun’s Mobility Development Center which, he says, introduces JSR 248 and next generation platform for Java ME devices. See how the pieces of the new platform fit together. I link to his blog, the rest is up to you. [Read]
Mobile Technology and Politics, A Favorite Topic Of Mine
Women Voter Registration Goes SMS Mobile
From the Personal Democracy technology and politics blogosphere we have a post about the ways in which a Women’s voter registration organization is using the ubiquitous nature of mobile technology and SMS to increase voter registration drives amongst women. [Read]
BBC Wap Use Flourishing In Africa
From the mobile technology and political activism blog MobileActive Ken Banks from Kiwanja.net writes about how Africa (and in particular Nigeria) is dominating international mobile phone access to the BBC website and how this is a great example of what the economics of broadband versus mobile phones means in developing countries. [Read]
Why Not Learn Something On You Mobile Every Once In A While
Judy Breck, my literal NYC neighbor (she lives like one block from me) writes a reaction to a New York Times Article about kids going back to school with laptops and cell phones in her blog Golden Swamp. Her concern is with yet the not so easily converged uses of these technologies for children and discusses how the convergences between the two can be better improved. Judy, we still have to get coffee sometime, ping me. [Read]
Although, Lets Not Forget The Importance Of Mobile Marketing
Google Coupons - But Where’s the Mobile Element?
Russell Buckley over at MOBHappy sends in his thoughts on Google’s lack of mobile thinking vis-a-vis creating the ability for local business to coupons against their products and services via Google Maps allowing users to simply print them and then then redeem them as usual. Join the debate [Read]
Yelp Mobile
Dennis the WAP expert from WapReview applies his expertise to analyzing and critiquing Yelp’s Mobile site. For those of you that don’t know, Yelp.com is a site featuring user generated reviews of businesses, services and attractions mainly in major US cities. [Read]
What Can Your PC Do For Your Mobile
Nokia PC Suite Wishlist
Listen up Nokia! The Mobile Diva herself, Darla Mack in her newly decorated Darla Mack blog talks about the often underestimated power and beauty of Nokia PC Suite and talks about a few features she would like to see in future versions with the with the newer S60 devices and all the cool new features installed. I would just like to add that I wish they made one for Mac. [Read]
How to Share Your 3G Connection
Martin Sauter of Martin’s Mobile Technology Page (aka Mobile Society) takes a break from his summer holiday to talk about what I basically would tart to think about as Fon for mobile data. Simply put, Martin describes how to share your 3G connection using the Internet connection sharing functionality of Windows XP. Anyone try it on a Mac? [Read]
???????????????????
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Dear Mr Leonid Iakovlev. You submitted the link http://wblog.livejournal.com/15992.html#cutid1 which does not link to a post or an article. So I do not know what you want me to do but the Carnival rules are rules. So I will just mention that you sent this in in case an error was made.
THE POST OF THE WEEK
As part of Khosla Ventures‘ sponsorship to the Carnival they pay-out 250 dollars to the best post of the month the contestants of which are decided by the various sites hosting a Carnival during that month. It is therefore my responsibility to vote for a post or article that I believe merits this type of attention and award. It is therefore, on those grounds that I award Rudy De Waele’s Connecting Cultures Through Music article the honorary Stu and Paula Oberman post of the week award and therefore submit the article into the voting pool for Augusts mobile technology post of the month. Congratulations Rudy! As an extra bonus my mother has agreed to cook you a batch of her famous brownies, yummm.
In Conclusion…
Well, thats it for this Carnival. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it. And if this was your first visit to MOpocket then welcome and I hope to see your referral links here again soon Stop and stay a while, read some old or new articles and enjoy.
Next weeks Carnival of the Mobilists will be hosted by MobileActive. Full a full list of upcoming Carnivals visit the Carnival websites schedule page.
For a full list of past Carnival of the Mobilists visit here.
Analysts say that Apple may now be forced to offer iTunes to other companies under license, although initial attempts by its boss Steve Jobs to work with mobile phone manufacturer Motorola were inconclusive.
“The Mac maker could form a joint venture with a telecom specialist to construct the guts of an iPhone while maintaining strict control over the device’s software and design,” said The Motley Fool, a financial information site.
Wall Street has speculated for months about the possible marriage of the iPod with a cellphone. Citigroup and UBS predict its birth in the first half of 2007.
“Of all of Apple’s new product opportunities, we are particularly excited about cellphones — an 800-million-unit-plus market per year,” UBS said.
Great, but this still does not answer the question I posed here.
Their is now an SMS platform that I sure every radio station is going to be signing up for… Feedtext Inc’s SMSJock leverages on the power of the mobile phone for a better interaction and communication between radio station disc jockeys (DJs) and their listeners.
The press release continues:
With SMSJock, there are no more busy lines, a common cause of irritation and frustration among listeners who want to communicate with their favorite radio station disc jockeys, whether to simply talk to them or request for their most-wanted song or songs. For a small fee, listeners can now interact with their radio station DJs practically worry-free.
SMSJock is a Web-based application tool that’s available for free to radio stations, and gives them the ability to receive Short Message Systems (SMS) messages or text messages from their listeners’ mobile
phones. At the same time, SMSJock also allows DJs to broadcast to their listeners’ phones like news, events, promotions, and other activities via text messages, thereby facilitating an effective, two-way
communication between radio stations and listeners.
I mean, its basically a simple SMS broadcasting and networking platform but I really like and appreciate the way its being marketed to a specific demographic which means that the platform will more than likely a evolve to cater its niche.
This is cool. If you have a Windows Mobile Phone check out miniMIXA. Record the rhythm of your train commute with your device’s mirophones and then mix it with your own contnet, or pre-loaded content from miniMIXA. get to work and then play it for your boss.
The blogosphere is buzzing with news about how Alltel Wireless the owner/operator of the nation’s largest wireless network has just announced the signing of a deal with satellite radio broadcaster XM Radio to create “XM Radio Mobile”.
The thinking is the newly created entity, XM Radio Mobile will initially bring 20 channels of satellite content to a variety of compatible handsets for $7.99 per month. XM will push out data to include the song title, artist and album. Genres in the initial release are likely to include music from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, Top 20 Hits, Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop/R&B, Indie Rock, Blues, Country, Latin and more.
But to tell you the truth it exactly the future capabilities of cell phones and network infrastructures such as 3G EV-DO and HSDPA not to mention 4G innovations such Wimax and city-wide and municipal Wifi that I think may make an infrastructure like pay for satellite radio irrelevant in the near future.
Don’t get me wrong. I get the convenience of having all the technology on one device. But as more and more handsets are dual mode wifi and network friendly and as such things as Wimax and or municipal wifi become a reality I am betting that the often overlooked services like commercial free home grown or professional internet radio (which is big in social networking worlds like Second Life) will be more widely used and available. I can also see certain networks make deals with Internet radio stations (or a company that owns a bunch) to have them on the deck or as a premium service.
In other-words wifi and wimax will become the new way to stream commercial free or just plain old free radio. This will also cause a boom in the home-grown radio market where anyone can have their own radio station. Hey I am just looking to the future here.
It will also become an easier way to distribute podcasts.
I see that satellite radio sees this to and that is probably why this deal was made. And there is no question that Alltel XM users will use it, for now. The question is whether they will in the future if IP radio streaming to mobile handsets ever makes it off the ground, which I predict it will.
Last week at CTIA in-between the expensive cab rides, florida heat and presidential speeches there was a bit of news around mobile music swarming around. Both Samsung and Sony Ericsson introduced new music phones as did MVNO Helio. Sprint Nextel reduced the price of its over-the-air music downloads to 99 cents per song, while AT&T announced it would offer new subscribers free access to the Napster music service for a year.
If you vote maybe she will cook you her famous brownies… yummmmm.
