Apple said to have acquired music service provider Omnifone [Update: Maybe not]
- jul
- 20
Update: According to Jim Dalrymple at The Loop, while a "mystery buyer" has purchased Omnifone, that buyer was not Apple:
Clearly with my interest in music, and Apple Music in particular, I began checking around as soon as I saw the report. While the report indicates a "mystery buyer" did purchase Omnifone's tech business and assets, that buyer is not Apple, my sources said.
Original Story: It appears that Apple may have purchased cloud-based music service provider Omnifone. The company, based out the UK, operated the MusicStation service, essentially a white label Apple Music competitor that served as the platform for music services provided by a number of cellular carriers around the world.
From MacRumors:
According to documents covering the sale, Omnifone's alluring patent portfolio was not purchased by Apple, nor were debts or investments, but terms included a "royalty bearing license" that Omnifone says will help it determine the value of its full range of patents. Omnifone has a number of patents relating to downloading music, digital rights management, and generating recommendations that are potentially appealing to streaming music companies.
As an interesting and unfortunate wrinkle in this story, the purchase of Omnifone has caused a temporary shutdown of the Pono Music Store. The store, which offered high-fidelity music files for the Pono music player, is now listed as "under construction," with an explanation of Omnifone's purchase.
The purchase of the company follows the placement of Omnifone into administration in May after the company was unable to pay its outstanding debts.