Om Malik comes through again with some details on RealNetworks’ big announcement scheduled for Tuesday: the company will announce Real Rhapsody To Go, a portable extension of its existing subscription service.
The big scoop is that Rhapsody To Go will support the Microsoft Play4Sure DRM for use on portable devices, and for $15 a month users will get access to it and the standard Rhapsody service.
This gets interesting when you begin thinking about Microsoft-powered mobile phones that support the DRM standard — couple some specialized hardware like the SDA Music with the service, and it’s steps ahead of Apple before iTunes Mobile has even launched. Two possible initial tangents: will the availability of subscription services like Rhapsody to Go drive general consumer adoption of Windows Mobile devices, and how will carriers react to such devices? Will they balk at subsidizing them (like the iTunes phone) since there’s nowhere in the revenue chain for them?
Update: Real is talking to handset vendors and operators, says CEO Rob Glaser.
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