RealNetworks Goes After iPod With Price War
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RealNetworks Goes After iPod With Price War  RealNetworks on Tuesday halved the prices for downloaded songs to $0.49  to win customers away from Apple Computer's iPod craze. RealNetworks has recently launched its "Harmony" technology which makes its song downloads compatible with Apple's iPod technology. Apple currently has a firm grasp ...
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(Article Central) Apple has quietly updated its iPod software to prevent songs purchased on RealNetworks&#39; online music store from being played on some of its popular MP3 players.
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RealNetworks Inc. is teaming up with SanDisk Corp. to release a portable music player that more closely links with RealNetworks' Rhapsody online music service, in the latest attempt to take on Apple's iPod and iTunes stronghold.
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Apple Computer has updated the software for some of its iPod digital media players so that songs bought from RealNetworks won&#39;t play.
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Apple Computer Inc. has updated the software for some of its iPod digital media players so that songs bought from RealNetworks Inc.
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They didnât make this announcement with quite as much fanfare as when they cut their price per download at their online music store to just 49 cents, but RealNetworks is ending that half-price âFreedom of Choiceâ promotion theyâve been running for
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RealNetworks Inc.  is ending its 49 cent-per-song music download service but will keep the promotional prices in place for top 10 songs, the Internet media and software company said on Thursday.
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Earlier this year RealNetworks came up with a workaround allowing music downloaded from its store to work on iPods. This was achieved by reverse-engineering Apple&#39;s FairPlay technology, and Real named it Harmony (see our previous coverage).
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RealNetworks seems to have had a very popular promotion in celebration of its new Harmony technology, which allows consumers to download songs bought at the RealPlayer Music Store and transfer them to popular portable devices, including iPods.
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Digital music battle continues, as Real undercuts ITunes' prices.
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RealNetworks plans to acquire South Korean mobile entertainment provider WiderThan Co. in a cash deal worth around $350 million.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Best Buy Co. Inc. on Thursday said it  will introduce a new music service with digital music player  maker SanDisk Corp.  and music software company  RealNetworks Inc.  to create the latest competing  service to Apple's iPod and iTunes combination.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple Computer's recent introduction of several new iPods shows the company is looking for better profit margins, not gaining market share, according to researcher Gartner. And the move could boost its rivals. The top sign Apple is going for the green is its lack of aggressive pricing, according to Gartner analysts Joseph Unsworth and Jon Erensen in a Monday report. The second-generation iPod Shuffle, for example, could have been priced closer to $49 to stimulate demand from users, since the cost of materials going into it amounts to only $30, the analysts said. Instead, the shuffle is priced at $79. The company could have also priced the new 8GB product lower than $249, since its materials only cost $130, Gartner said, the same with its 4GB, which at $199 is far higher than the $90 worth of materials inside, and the 2GB version, which is $149 and is made from materials costing only $70. The two Gartner researchers even lamented Apple's decision to discontinue the 1GB nano, which they say could have been a nice mass-market item for around $99. "Apple is in a secure position atop the portable media player market and has decided to strategically focus on its margin this time," the analysts said. Indeed, AppleÂ continued to leadÂ the U.S. digital music player market in the second quarter with a 75.6 percent share, according to the NPD Group, followed at a very distant second by SanDisk at 9.7 percent and Creative TechnologyÂ in third with 4.3 percent of the market. But a lack of revolutionary new functions in the latest lineup of iPods coupled with just a small price reduction could give rivals,Â Microsoft and its new ZuneÂ in particular, room to gain market share this year. For one thing, Apple's rivals may not be affected by strained component supplies, since Apple won't be taking as much as it could, according to Gartner. The market researcher had predicted a shortage of NAND flash memory chips in the fourth quarter due to strong sales of portable media players, USB (universal serial bus) flash drives, and other products requiring the chips. While it still forecasts a shortage, the situation won't be as severe as previously thought, the analysts said, perhaps a 3 percent shortfall rather than the 4.6 percent shortage originally predicted. NAND flash, one of the key data storage components for iPods, is 60 percent cheaper than last year on average, and with Apple's huge investment in NAND companies, it could have priced its iPods more aggressively to keep its market share, the analysts said. In addition, Apple's rivals won't have to work so hard this year to keep up with the iPod because the new lineup does not redefine the portable media player market like it did last year, Gartner said. And finally, the company only trimmed nano prices by $50, different from the past when the company's aggressive price cuts forced competitors to lower prices and increase storage capacity to compete. Jill Than, a spokeswoman for Apple in Hong Kong, declined to immediately comment.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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If you go by the headlines alone, it sounds like RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) is about to embark on a heady money-losing venture as it halves prices for its music download service Harmony, looking to take a bite out of Apple ...
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MacCentral - RealNetworks Inc. said on Tuesday that it has sold more than a million songs at its online music store since slashing prices last week as part of a limited-time sale aimed at growing the user base of its new digital media software.
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Microsoft&#39;s effort to send a message to Apple via legions of iPod users isn&#39;t quite as elaborate as RealNetworks&#39; Freedom of Music Choice campaign, but the gist is the same.
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RealNetworks&#39; campaign to grab digital-music market share away from Apple&#39;s iTunes service -- most recently, with cut-rate, 49-cent song downloads -- is raising the ire of Apple loyalists. A petition placed online by Real was swamped with ...