Just An Online Minute... More Music Via Wireless

by Tobi Elkin, Dec 20, 2004, 12:00 AM

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Are we in for a shower of music services delivered by wireless phone in 2005? It sounds like we are. Sprint says it will offer subscribers six music channels and a video news channel in 2005 for a select Sanyo wireless phone model. The plan by the No. 3 wireless provider, which is acquiring Nextel Communications, is bound to spark a flurry of similar plans by wireless companies.

Last week, Seattle-based Melodeo announced a plan to offer digital music downloads with Warner Music via its all-in-one wireless device. Even with so-called 3G handsets, we question the quality of the downloads, the time it will take to download, and whether the providers can stoke consumer demand for such services.

And where Sprint's plan is concerned, does anyone really want to listen to pre-set music channels on their wireless handset and watch video on a tiny screen? We think it will be hard to pry those ear plugs from the ears of the iPod-obsessed for these mobile services. But let's see what happens...

On another matter, Google continues to be an amazing source of fodder for thought. The search giant wants users to think of it as more than a straight-forward search tool. Google's recent announcement regarding the plan to digitize five library collections is one sign of its greater aspirations. But there are still more tools in its arsenal.

For example, social networking via Orkut, a hub it has yet to really promote or develop; the Picasso digital photo service for finding, organizing, and editing images; and Keyhole, Google's answer to MapQuest, but using satellite imagery and razor-sharp 3-D views. A desktop search tool, capable of searching computer hard drives, is also a key application for Google.

Search is obviously the thread running through all these offerings, but in general, Google can spark usage in many different ways. The more people who flock to these services and spend time noodling with them, the more people Google can put text ads in front of. Text-based advertising is a huge revenue stream for the company which reported $2.1 billion in revenues for the first nine months of 2004. The majority of those revenues came from search ads.

Googlization: Stay tuned in 2005 for more.

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