Lala Plans to Open Music-Streaming Dime Store on iPhone

Online music retailer Lala is preparing to launch an iPhone application that its cofounder says paves the way for the end of downloading songs in the MP3 format.

The app allows users to buy the right to stream songs from a digital locker forever for just 10 US cents each. The song quality is lower than what Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iTunes offers, but "intelligent caching" lets the tracks load and play in seconds, with playback possible even outside of cellphone coverage.

An existing iTunes library can be synchronized with one's Lala account, meaning a person doesn't have to repurchase songs to listen to them within the app.

Death to the MP3?

In a demonstration for The Associated Press, songs began playing in about two seconds, compared to the more than two minutes it took to download an iTunes song over the AT&T (NYSE: T) 3G cellphone network. Consumers are allowed one full-length free preview of each song.

"There's no downloading, no links to click on, it's just there," said Lala cofounder Bill Nguyen, who described the concept as the start of "the end of the MP3."

The advantage of having songs in MP3 files is that they can be downloaded and played on a variety of devices and computers. Meanwhile, streaming services pump music directly to a computer or mobile device, but not in a form that the user can store and play any time, even while offline.

Pay Scale

Lala's iPhone app aims to get around that downside of streaming while taking advantage of the device's power as a music player (it has an iPod inside it, after all) and undercutting the prices charged on iTunes, where songs generally cost 69 cents to $1.29.

Once users pay 10 cents to have a song streamed from Lala, they can hear the track essentially any time. The songs that a user listens to most often in the app or designates as favorites are automatically loaded in the phone's memory, which is the step that allows them to be heard any time, even out of cellphone range.

The songs are streamed at as few as 32 kilobits per second, depending on cellphone reception -- which is about the same as some smaller radio stations stream online but far lower quality than the 256 kilobits per second common to iTunes. It can lead to a flatter, fuzzier sound. Nguyen said sound quality could improve as cellphone networks become stronger.

Approval Pending

Lala will also sell higher-quality versions of the same songs as MP3s for 89 cents each. However, that requires hooking the user's phone to an Internet-connected computer.

The app, which itself is free, is set to debut on Apple's iTunes app store next month pending approval. Apple had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Lala, a private company based in Palo Alto, Calif., was launched in 2006 with $35 million in venture capital from Bain Capital, Ignition Partners and Warner Music Group.

Droid Steps Out of the Shadows

Featuring high-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, a customizable large screen, plus access to thousands of applications and hundreds of widgets through the Android Market, the new Droid device will arrive on Nov. 6.

The Droid is the first device Motorola is bringing to market under its strategic partnership with Google (Nasdaq:GOOGle), noted John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless.

Customers will have access to more than 12,000 applications, he said.

400,000 Pixels

Droid is one of the thinnest full-QWERTY slider phones available, claims Motorola. Features include location awareness, voice recognition and over-the-air updating.

Its 3.7-inch, high-resolution screen boasts a width of 854 pixels to reduce the need for side-to-side panning and more than 400,000 pixels total, significantly outstripping what's available on competitors -- including Apple's (Nasdaq: APPLE) iPhone.

A 5-megapixel camera comes loaded with dual-LED flash, AutoFocus and image stabilization; DVD-quality video capture and playback is also available. A 16-GB memory card is included.

Turn-by-Turn Voice Guidance

Voice-activated search, meanwhile, allows users to simply tell the device what they're looking for -- "gas station," for example -- and it will serve up Google search results based on their location. For more results, they can type in search terms, and Droid will search not only content on the Web, but also data residing on their phone -- apps and contacts, for example.

Then there's Droid's Google Maps Navigation feature -- now in beta -- which provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps. Powered by Google, the Web app lets users give voice shortcuts such as simply saying, "Navigate to [some destination]," generating turn-by-turn directions along with Street View and satellite imagery.

Droid is the first device to offer Google Maps Navigation, Motorola and Verizon said.

'A Big Benefit'

Such capabilities are "a big benefit when in a vehicle," Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile and wireless with the 451 Group, told LinuxInsider.

"Instead of typing in a search, you speak one command and there's already a function for it, so it runs through several processes to give you your results," he explained.

Most other devices, by contrast, require that the user open up a specific application first -- and "by that time you may have missed your exit," Hazelton added.

Such functionality is also particularly important as more states go hands-free, he noted. "There's a need to limit the time people spend looking at the screens of their smartphones, and one very good way of doing that is voice control," he said.

Support for Exchange

The Droid announcement came just one day after the release of support for Android 2.0 -- also known as "Eclair" -- in the platform's software development kit. Droid taps several features new to that version.

Another notable example is its support for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Exchange, which is included along with integrated Gmail.

"This device will be somewhat like the iPhone in that employees or prosumers can bring it to work easily, because as long as their company has Exchange, they can link directly to their work email," Hazelton noted.

Equal Shares by 2014

Whether the device can truly compete with the iPhone, of course, is the multimillion-dollar question.

"We expect a whole bunch of new Android phones to come out next year," Allen Nogee, principal analyst with In-Stat, told LinuxInsider. "Over time, by about 2014, I see the Android and Apple having about equal market share."

Yet the two platforms will account for those shares in very different ways, Nogee noted.

'Coming at a Good Time'

"Apple still focuses all its energy on one phone -- maybe by then it will be two or three, but it won't be hundreds," he predicted.

Android, meanwhile, will be available in many, many different flavors and models, representing a variety of manufacturers.

Several competing mobile operating systems, however -- such as RIM OS and Windows Mobile -- are "kind of floundering and trying to find their way," Nogee noted.

As a result, "Android is coming at a good time," he concluded.

'Great Potential'

"When the iPhone was introduced, it supercharged the smartphone segment," telecom analyst Jeff Kagan told LinuxInsider. "Then we saw several other good competitors, and the race was on."

Now, with Google in the picture, "we are expecting another giant leap forward," Kagan noted. "Will it happen? That is the question we are all asking."

The first version was "good, but not great," he said. "Will the second version be great?"

In the last few years, "we have seen as many flops as successes," Kagan pointed out. "So we should wait to draw opinions until we can see and use this device."

Android 2.0 Phones Get New Google Nav App

The application is part of Google Maps for mobile. Android version 2.0 will appear on the upcoming Droid handset from Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Verizon, and other manufacturers also plan to release handsets carrying the updated, Google-backed mobile OS.

Although Google makes other mobile applications that work on a variety of mobile platforms, it's unclear when or if its new nav app will make its way to Android rivals like the iPhone or Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry devices.

About Google Map Navigation

Built to leverage a smartphone's Internet connection, Google Maps Navigation provides users with up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps. The updates are free; GPS system vendors such as TomTom and Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) often charge for their updates.

To search, users have the option of entering the name of a business or landmark into the search box instead of the exact address of a location.

Travelers may like the following features, which leverage their smartphones' Internet access: Live traffic data; satellite view; street view; and search along route.

A blinking light in the corner of the smartphone's screen will glow green, yellow or red depending on traffic conditions along the user's route. Users can get more details by zooming out to an aerial view. Like other GPS systems, Google Map Navigation lets users choose alternate routes.

While driving, users can search for a business by name or type, or they can locate gas stations, restaurants or parking by activating pre-installed layers on the map. Double-tapping the map takes users into Street View. Google Maps Navigation can also show travelers a picture of their destination so they know what to look for when they arrive.