RealNetworks Brings Music to Cell Phones

RealNetworks is bringing streaming audio and video from news organizations such as Fox Sports and National Public Radio to select mobile phone users, the company.

The RealOne Mobile Guides service will allow some users to set bookmarks for well-known audio and video content providers such as iFilm, Atlantic Records, Sporting News Radio, and the PGA Tour, among others.

Easing In

The service will be available to users of certain Nokia phones, Palm's Tungsten T and Zire 71, and forthcoming phones from Samsung Electronics and Siemens. Their design will permit access to content by phone over Global System for Mobile Communication/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) networks.

The service itself will be free at the onset, but carriers will charge a per-download fee based on the size of the file downloaded, a RealNetworks spokesperson says. The participating carriers--AT&T Wireless Services, Cingular Wireless, and T-Mobile--all have different ways of charging for downloadable data files, and will develop rate plans for different levels of use, she said.

For now, RealNetworks is providing only short clips of information, but expects that to change as phones grow more sophisticated, the spokesperson says. The Seattle company also plans to eventually charge for access to the service, the way it does now for PC-based streaming media, but wants to help create a market for the service among mobile phone users first, she said.

Pioneer's Challenge

The challenge for RealNetworks is to convince both the carriers and content providers that money can be made through this type of service, said Adam Zawel, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston.

"They're going to try and jump-start the mobile content market. And everyone's a bit wary of getting customers used to enjoying these services for free," he said.

RealNetworks and entertainment industry partners have also already promoted video streaming to mobile devices.

The material will play on a mobile version of RealOne Player. The popular RealNetworks media player competes with Microsoft's Windows Media Player on PCs.

A copy of RealOne Mobile Player is already shipping with several Nokia and Palm devices, and will come with the new Samsung and Siemens phones to access the service.