Industries
Sprint Tunes in Rhapsody
It’s no ROKR, but Sprint ups the ante by unveiling live music on its cellular network.
The marriage between music and mobile phones entered the honeymoon phase on Monday with the announcement that Sprint Nextel and RealNetworks will offer live radio feeds to Sprint mobile service subscribers.
Rhapsody Radio, a unit of RealNetworks, will offer Sprint customers their choice of 100 commercial-free streaming radio stations, including “Urban Hitz Radio,” streaming podcasts from KCRW, Santa Monica 89.9 FM, and National Public Radio’s Southern California station.
Customers who buy Rhapsody Radio on the Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services will get some fraction of that library of streaming content for $6.95 per month for unlimited access. Sprint customers also pay separately for wireless network access.
The move comes on the heels of the announcement from Motorola and Apple of the ROKR mobile phone, which doubles as a digital music player. The ROKR is available exclusively from Cingular, the largest mobile carrier in the United States (see iTunes Phone, New iPod Debut).
‘I think this signals a move away from special-purpose embedded operating systems that were used in mobile phones.’ -Tom Nolle, CIMI
Mobile phones that also act as music players are an increasing trend, according to one analyst.
“It’s not logical to assume that the consumer is going to carry around multiple digital devices,” said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI, a technology assessment firm based in Voorhees , New Jersey . “I think Apple understands this, and that is why we have the ROKR. Ultimately competition from mobile phones may be more of a risk to the iPod than competition from other MP3 players.”
Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services is available nationwide to customers with a Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Phone. The Rhapsody Radio service can be purchased through the phone. Rhapsody Radio is the latest of four streaming music channels available to Sprint customers.
“The addition of Rhapsody Radio gives customers a popular catalog of commercial-free streaming music, music news, and independent music videos which will allow Sprint customers a new way to discover artists,” said Jeff Hallock, vice president of consumer product marketing and strategy for Sprint.
Sprint’s PDA Phone
Sprint Nextel, the third-largest mobile carrier in the U.S. after Cingular and Verizon Wireless, has been on a tear lately. Last Friday the Overland Park, Kansas-based company launched the Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device PPC-6700, a combination of a Pocket PC PDA with a phone equipped with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 software.
“I think this signals a move away from special-purpose embedded operating systems that were used in mobile phones,” said Mr. Nolle. “You will see more general purpose operating systems like Windows Mobile and Linux because they can run more applications.”
The PPC-6700 will be available this week for a suggested retail price of $629.99 before discounts and promotions.
The Windows-based software may provide an advantage over proprietary operating systems.
“If you are marketing a device that can do more and more things, then you want an operating system that can pull those applications off the shelf rather than wait for a developer to write an application for a specialized operating system,” said Mr. Nolle.
Shares of Sprint Nextel were down $0.53 to $24.85 in recent trading, while shares of RealNetworks were up $0.22 to $5.81.
Wireless provider Sprint announced today, that they would be working with RealNetworks to launch a streaming music service, for Sprint wireless customers, called '''Rhapsody Radio'''.

The service will allow users to listen to podcasts and six streaming radio stations (rap, hip-hop hits, alternative, country, '70s, and music news) from their mobile phone. Users will be able to listen to live broadcasts of those stations over their cellular connection. For a monthly subscription fee of $6.95, users will also have unlimited access to commercial-free radio broadcasts. Selected streaming podcasts from KCRW, Santa Monica 89.9 FM, and National Public Radio’s Southern California station will also be available. A special ''Beats N Breaks'' stream is also available. ''Beats N Breaks'' provides background music from hip-hop songs for users to rap with.

Rhapsody Radio service requires a Sanyo MM-7400, Sanyo MM-5600, Sanyo MM-8300, Samsung IP-A790, Samsung MM-A800, Samsung MM-A880 or an LG MM-535 mobile phone. Customers are able to order directly from their phones, with the charge appearing on their next bill. 

Many analysts predicted the introduction of music services by other wireless providers after Apple recently introduced the Motorola ROKR. The Motorola ROKR comes with a version of the iTunes software which allows users to listen to up to 100 songs on their phone. Service for this phone in the USA is provided by Cingular Wireless.