ROK launches ‘iPod killer’ mobile music service
Mobile entertainment company ROK have just unveiled their brand new ‘iPod killer’ mobile music service - ROK Media Store.
The service is a free web-based application which lets you upload your music collection to your PC and transfer - or ’sideload’ it - to your mobile phones memory card. In addition, you can also purchase music and video content online from a shop on the website.
“More than 100 million iPods have been sold worldwide in the past five years, which clearly shows the enormous demand for music on the move” said Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK . “Mobile entertainment is a proven market which stretches back more than 25 years from the days of the Sony Walkman, but when you look at the far bigger scale of the mobile phone market, with 3 billion handsets in use, being upgraded at the rate of 1 billion new handsets every year, ROK Media Store is designed to allow millions more people the opportunity, right now, to upload, manage and listen to music on their mobiles, in the same way those with an iPod have been able to do.”
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“Most handsets are now sold with a removable memory card and while the cost of memory cards has fallen considerable in the past year or so, their capacity is increasing all the time” added Alexander “so we see people building a library of memory cards containing their favourite music, managed via Media Store.”
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ROK believes Media Store is an “iPod killer” not because it competes with the iPod as another device like Microsoft’s Zune, but because it offers a real and viable alternative designed for a device you already own - your mobile phone.
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“We’re not aiming to kill the iPod by simply offering yet another iPod-type device” said Alexander “we’re offering an easy-to-use and free-to-use, mass-market alternative to having to buy an iPod.”
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ROK intend to monetise Media Store through a combination of online advertising and through offering people the chance to purchase additional content via the website for side-loading to their mobile phones, in a similar manner as iTunes.
I was very intrigued by your “iPod killer” story, however I don’t really see the difference between this and the Orb service I’m currently using with the 3 x-series?
That allows me to access all of my media on the move as does this ROK service and the main reason why Orb (and this) will never be an iPod killer for me personally is I can’t enjoy a 2hr train ride because of me constantly loosing coverage (and my music!).
So until 3G coverage (or 2G for that matter) is guaranteed 100% of the time I doubt these type of services will ever be a viable replacement for a dedicated mp3 player.
Just my two pence worth though!
Posted by Daniel Versteeg on July 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am.Hi Daniel,
Posted by Bruce on July 25th, 2007 at 11:43 am.This is Bruce from ROK.
Our Media Store application lets you store your music on the memory card of your mobile to play when you wish. There’s no airtime involved.
Hope you enjoy it.
Best,
Bruce
Hi Bruce… Thanks for the reply, that does get around the problem somewhat although now all I need is a 30GB mini sd card!
Posted by Daniel Versteeg on July 25th, 2007 at 12:51 pm.Doesn’t work on my Mac. Good start!
Doesn’t work on my phone. Even Better!
Doesn’t work on my PC. Cripes!
Posted by lazygamer on July 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm.If it is aiming at iTunes users as biggest target audience and iPhone users, why don’t you make this available on a MAC?
Posted by Lodewijk on July 25th, 2007 at 4:22 pm.We will, Lodewijk, we will.
Posted by Bruce on July 25th, 2007 at 7:07 pm.MAC is in development right now.
And we’ll be adding lots of music for purchase as well.