MySpace launches free mobile service
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Another string to social networking bow MySpace has fired another salvo in the battle for social network supremacy with a free mobile version of its website.â¦
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Cingular Wireless LLC, the nation's largest cell phone provider, has made a deal with MySpace.com that will allow MySpace users to access their profiles through Cingular phones.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group is counting on the MySpace.com social networking site to drive its U.K. customers to use their mobile phones for more than just talking. The two companies have struck a deal the to distribute software for updating a MySpace user profile from a mobile phone, the companies announced on Wednesday. The agreement is the first MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., has reached with a European carrier, a MySpace spokesman said. It calls for Vodafone to ship an application on new mobile phones it sells that will allow MySpace users to e-mail, blog, manage their community of friends and post comments to other users' profiles. The application, which will also be available for download, will be launched before the end of the year for U.K. users, the companies said. Pricing for use of the application has not been set, a Vodafone spokesman said. The agreement could help Vodafone nudgeÂ slow overall revenue growth in Europe, by drawing on the MySpace's popularity to boost use of mobile data services. Vodafone saw growth in mobile data services revenue accelerate in the fourth quarter, but the total still lagged far behind revenue from voice services. MySpace counted 90 million unique visitors worldwide in December, the spokesman said. Vodafone has about 16.9 million customers in the U.K. MySpace launched a similar dealÂ in the U.S. in December with Cingular Wireless. Cingular subscribers can download a Java application that lets them manipulate MySpace for $2.99 per month plus standard use charges.
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MySpace is moving into new territory. On Monday, the Fox Interactive Media property announced it would launch a series of new, ad-supported mobile Web sites targeting mobile device users.
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Seeking new subscribers, Match.com is testing a Facebook app, considering a hookup with MySpace.
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Rains down spam, opens door to users accounts A handful of enterprising people - at least one of them a teen - has devised a Javascript that allows its owner to temporarily access the browser's MySpace account, according to a security professional who was among the first to publicly write about the service.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - MySpace.com is launching a new music download service that emphasizes music from independent artists, the latest in a string of services announced in recent weeks that hope to topple iTunes from its crown. Some of the services, such as one backed by Universal Music Group, are even offering music for free, backed by advertising services. But analysts say they'll have trouble toppling Apple Computer's iTunes, which has staked out a solid position in what's becoming a crowded music download market. "Ultimately it's a volume business, and the market isn't large enough to sustain 20 different services," said Jonathan Arber, research analyst for OvumÂ in London. The service from MySpace.com, which is in beta today, lets users sell their own songs through their personalized MySpace home pages. The company has partnered with Snocap, a companyÂ founded by NapsterÂ founder Shawn Fanning, for some of the technology behind the service. MySpace's large user base, which it says is more than 70 million, may be key for the new offering, as it jostles with several other technology and media companies that have allied to secure a piece of the music download market. Last week, Samsung ElectronicsÂ said it would start a subscription service later this year withÂ partner MusicNet. The online store will have 2 million licensed songs from major record labels and 40,000 independent ones. Also last week, a new company,Â SpiralFrog, said it will offer free music downloadsÂ backed by Universal Music Group's catalog, with the service supported by advertising. It's due to launch in beta by the end of this year. While MySpace's service hasn't been formally announced, a marketing executive at the company began touting it on her MySpace Web page on Monday, offering tracks from a group called The Format for $0.79 each. (http://www.myspace.com/danidudeck) The service will let users embed songs in their personalized pages that other users can then purchase, wrote Dani Dudeck, MySpace director of communications. To buy songs, a user needs an account from eBay's PayPal money transfer service and a U.S. billing address. Artists will be able to set the price of their tracks, with MySpace and Snocap keeping a small service fee, according to a story Monday in Business Week magazine. The service could appeal to aspiring musicians, allowing them to skirt business arrangements with music labels and pitch their songs directly to MySpace's users. It's unclear, however, whether the major labels will embrace it. They may be wary of posting tracks on MySpace because the songs will be in an MP3 format without Digital Rights Management (DRM), which restricts how they can be copied and played, Arber said. The means the tracks could potentially be downloaded from MySpace and then uploaded to illegal file-sharing networks. At the same time, he said, the opportunity to set variable pricing for songs offered on MySpace could be more attractive for the major record labels, who have bristled over Apple's insistence on uniform pricing. Individual tracks in the U.S. retail for $0.99 each. Apple has so far retained its lead in music downloads. iPod users can purchase compatible songs from the iTunes Music Store and eMusic.com, but most other services offer songs in incompatible file formats. It's led other companies to try other approaches, such as subscription and ad-supported services, both those each present their own difficulties. Napster and Yahoo have subscription services where users have access to thousands of tracks as long as they continue to pay monthly fees. But the subscription model generally hasn't been that successful, Arber said. Ad-supported services, such as Universal's arrangement announced last week with SpiralFrog, could face competition from more experienced Internet companies. "There are already existing companies that are much better at targeting advertisers on the Web," Arber said.
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New mobile devices allow users to make free or low-cost phone calls over the Internet using nearby wireless access points, which range from cafes to private homes.
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British telecoms giant Vodafone has said it has signed the first European deal with MySpace to allow its mobile phone subscribers to access the social networking website.
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A new Internet company backed by Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen launched a free service on Tuesday that enables people to make their own social-networking websites.
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PC Magazine - MySpace, the wildly popular online teen hangout, said on Friday it will make its first move into the digital music business by selling songs from nearly 3 million unsigned bands.
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MySpace, the wildly popular online   teen hangout, said on Friday it will make its first move into   the digital music business by selling songs from nearly 3   million unsigned bands.
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Following Facebook's lead, MySpace will allow outside developers to create applications for its members.
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MySpace, the online social networking site owned by News Corp, is in talks with music companies to launch an advertising-supported free music service, according to several reports on Wednesday.
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Software vendor Oz says it will release new software that will cellphone users to connect to social networking sites such as MySpace.
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InfoWorld - Vodafone Group is counting on the MySpace.com social networking site to drive its U.K. customers to use their mobile phones for more than just talking. The two companies have struck a deal the to distribute software for updating a MySpace user profile from a mobile phone, the companies announced on Wednesday.
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MySpace said Tuesday that it has officially launched the beta of its instant messaging client to the public, about a year after it had first released it in a limited beta test.