MotoMusic set to rock India

MotoMusic set to rock India

In a first ever move in the mobile music VAS market, US mobile handset major Motorola has acquired music-download company SoundBuzz

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Email This

Print This

Comments

RSS

The mobile handset manufacturer looks at acquisition as a step to launch its MotoMusic service in the Indian market.

Bill Werner, senior vice president, Future Solutions & Technology, Motorola Mobile Devices, tells R Jai Krishna of CyberMedia News, the reasons behind the acquisition and what Motorola's plans are in future in this segment. Excerpts:

What made Motorola interested in SoundBuzz?

Bill Werner, senior vice president, Future Solutions & Technology, Motorola Mobile Devices

Bill Werner, senior vice president, Future Solutions & Technology, Motorola Mobile Devices

Mobile music in Asia is the leading multimedia application for mobile device users. Data collected from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the IFPI and local music industry sources show that over 90 per cent of all digital music content in Asia is sold via mobile channels.

In fact, last year India was the second market in the world to see digital music outsell physical music, with mobile sales growing to an estimated Rs 3,600 crore, by 2009 from a base of Rs 1,026 crore in 2006. With its consumers and customers in mind, Motorola successfully launched MotoMusic – our own music portal in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong with over 3.5 million registered users. That was two years back.

The acquisition of Soundbuzz takes this a step further and will enable Motorola to extend MotoMusic to India, Southeast Asia and Australia to become the biggest pan-Asian aggregator and distributor of digital music to the mobile and to the PC.

What will be the nature of acquisition?

It will be a full acquisition of technology and employees as part of Motorola's global music group. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008 and will be funded by cash at the time of closing.

Is Motorola seeing this as a first step to launch MotoMusic in India and adjoining markets?

Yes, we expect this transaction will enable us to expand MotoMusic into India to cater to increasing consumer demand for mobile music downloads. This will also strengthen our already strong relationship with carriers.

Can you elaborate on what MotoMusic service would be like in India?

Services like MotoMusic and Soundbuzz are designed to be enjoyed with devices that are designed for the way we enjoy music in Asia. At CES in Las Vegas, we launched the amazing Rokr E8, which adds connectivity to a mobile music player to create the single most impressive mobile music experience available in Asia.

For example, I'm sitting down at a coffee shop and hear a great song playing. I can simply select the Song ID application on my E8 and let the handset identify the song. In only a few seconds my Rokr can tell me what song it is, what artist it's from and what album it was on. And it does not stop there. It will show me the ring tone, the full track and video available on MotoMusic, which I can download easily, the cost being charged to my hand phone bill.

© CyberMedia News

Email This

Print This

Comments

RSS

Interact, Collaborate & Share

With Lotus Quickr your everyday business content can be easily shared, enabling operational efficiency. Download the Lotus Quickr demo to learn how.

know more..

	Save 40% energy on data solutions
	Try visual studio 2008. It’s Free
	Complexicity or Simplicity - Choose

	Motorola : Good Mobile Messaging
	Smart Enterprises = Smart CIOs
	TAM : Freedom from password management

	Mahindra Connect benefits from SharePoint Server 2007
	Solving the "lost data" problem
	Wipro meets its future demands through E-Cube

	HP Business Availability Center
	Transforming Business
	Aligning IT and Business