A View from Abroad

Air France Denies iPod Story

Showing a special flare for marketing, especially in light of the Zune launch, AF has supposedly denied the iPod connectivity story ... anyone have the link in English?  I've been searching all over.

Xmas Early: iPod Integration with In-Flight Entertainment

Thank you, Santa Claus, it's in-flight iPod connectivity!  Starting in mid-2007, Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United Airlines will allow passengers to plug iPods into in-flight entertainment services -- which means we can view iPod videos on seat-back displays and charge them!  The connection will also allow passengers listen to music on some airlines' noise-cancellation headsets.  Annoyingly self-congratulatory press release from United here.

Zune Entry in the "Whoops!" File

Rather embarrassing:  MSN Music purchases are not compatible with Zune ...  seems that tracks from the MSN Music site are compatible with the specifications of the Plays For Sure initiative. So, Zune content   not supported on Plays For Sure devices.  Read more about it as reported by the BBC here.

Note:  MSN Music, Napster, AOL Music Now and Urge all backed Plays For Sure as did many players from hardware makers such as Archos, Creative, Dell and Iriver.

Aggregators R.I.P.?

Had some more convos with the team over the weekend, especially about the News Corp/Jamba and  Real Networks/WiderThan deals and what they mean, exactly.  We're wondering if this is the beginning of a trend for both consolidation in the mobile content space and a divergence in the nature of companies that will survive the process.  Here's what it looks like:  bit by bit, carriers and content vendors are bypassing aggregators and hooking up directly, leaving room for only two types of companies:  those with differentiated technology or original content.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

Big Day For Mobile Entertainment Acquisitions

Holy crow!

• RealNetworks acquired Korean mobile entertainment firm WiderThan/$350 Million (ringtones, full track downloads)
• News Corp. buys controlling interest in Verisign's mobile entertainment unit Jamba/$188 Million ( ringtones, music and video)