A pioneer in streaming media has gone mobile. RealNetworks is now offering music, games and video to customers on their mobile phones, CNET reported.
Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of RealNetworks, said mobile entertainment is a huge opportunity, during a keynote at the CTIA IT and Entertainment show in San Francisco. He said his company is committed to mobile just as much as they are to PCs.
The past couple of weeks have seen a bit of a coming-out party for RealNetworks’ mobile products. Earlier this month, it announced that its Rhapsody music service would be offered to Sprint Nextel mobile customers. And last week the company touted a big win with its announcement that Cingular Wireless will provide the mobile operator with technology that allows people to watch streaming video on their cell phones.
The Cingular deal is key for RealNetworks as it moves into the mobile entertainment market, CNET said. Its biggest rival, Microsoft, is being used to deliver streaming TV over Verizon Wireless’ network. The race between the two companies to provide the technology to make this functionality a reality is in full force.
Cell phone operators are banking on mobile entertainment to boost revenues. A quick ramp-up in sales over the past 18 months from other non-voice services, such as text messaging and ring tones, has led many mobile operators to expand their offerings of entertainment content, including full-length music tracks, streaming video and games, CNET reported.
