A couple bits and pieces from this week:
– Shazam software to be integrated in Moto handsets: Some Motorola handsets will ship with Shazam’s song-identification software built in, letting users identify music their hear via the handset. Russell Buckley at the excellent Mobile Technology Weblog rightly wonders about Shazam’s business model: the company operates a short-code service in the UK, and the usage statistics and revenues aren’t overwhelming. But going the licensing route may give the company better results, getting cash upfront from handset vendors and then operating the service for free (assuming it will be free).
– Not only do carriers want to control your handset, but Congress wants to get its hooks in, too: The US Congress held hearings this week to discuss mandating interoperability between music services like iTunes and Real’s Rhapsody. Without wanting to really delve into politics, it would appear the Congress has solved all other problems and can now move to something as meaningful as this. DRM interoperability is an important topic, particularly in the crossover of content between PCs and mobiles, but the US and the world already has an ideal mechanism to come up with the best solution: it’s called the market.
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