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Samsung has just announced that they have acquired the cloud music locker/streaming service mSpot. This new acquisition should complete the circle of life that is Samsung’s mobile ecosystem quite nicely, and it’s not too unlike when HTC purchased music streaming service MOG back in March.
mSpot not only allows users to upload their music to the cloud for playback on compatible devices later, but they also offer movie rentals the day of, or after, the DVD hits store shelves. You may have also noticed that a few of your Sprint devices have come with mSpot Radio pre-installed. Yup, they offer that too. Samsung said in their official announcement:
“The acquisition will provide a cloud-based entertainment experience of music, video and radio services for users of Samsung devices, while extending mSpot’s cloud and streaming solutions to a broader base of global entertainment fans. The combination will extend mSpot’s top class cloud and streaming services while further enhancing Samsung’s mobile and tablet device entertainment offerings. mSpot’s entertainment services will be a key integrated offering on newly announced Samsung mobile devices.”
No word on exactly how much the deal set Samsung back, or exactly when Sammy plans to integrate mSpot into their devices. I understand the need for Android OEM’s to differentiate themselves from rival manufacturers — the world of Android is a competitive one. But sometimes I wonder if OEM’s aren’t secretly planning to use Android as a platform to launch their “own” mobile OS, ala Amazon. Crazy?
“I wonder if OEM’s aren’t secretly planning to use Android as a platform to launch their “own” mobile OS, ala Amazon. Crazy?”
I am beginning to wonder about this too!! At first I just figured manufacturers were taking the battle for suprecmacy to its next logical evolution, the software side. Things seem pretty stagnant on the hardware side so now they are ramping up the software. As I think more and more about it though the manufacturers using these separate companies to complete pieces of the puzzle that Google tries to do as a whole is actually more efficient and may yield better results.
In the end I think an OS will still only be as strong as their app store and that is a huge challenge if these manufacturers want to stray.
A man after my own heart…. I love you. I mean, me. O_o
I agree with Joshua, the app store is going to be the dealbreaker or maker if they can do it right. Personally I’m pretty tied to android, so I don’t see myself buying a Samsung or Htc device with some sort of new OS on it. It’d have to S my D or something.