Real Networks Strikes Vodafone Deal

In a big deal for the streaming media company, Real Networks announced a partnership with Vodafone Group to provide streaming audio and video phone clients and server equipment to the global carrier. This follows Real's success in a deal with Nokia for the Real Player in Nokia's Series 60 platform. The Vodafone deal will put the Real player in about 60% of rich media handsets in Europe, surely enough to be considered critical mass. Real also has a deal with Openwave to be integrated in their version 7, which should be out early next year. The Microsoft Windows Media Player vs. Real Player battle from the WWW does not appear to be reproduced in the mobile space, where MSFT suffers the 'disadvantage' of not having a monopoly on the OS.

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