IM-P3: Music via IM?
The folks at Apple must check over their shoulders quite often throughout the day. Being the market leader in online music sales can only drive many other ravenous folks to seek you out and destroy you. For sure, when most people thing portable music these days, they think iPod. For the most part, the same thing comes to mind when we dream of our ultimate "online music store".
More plans are starting to come around that could stem some of Apple's success. A few weeks ago, Microsoft released their Music Store, with little fanfare, I might note. More recently, however, Yahoo! has tipped its hat as well.
Yahoo's plans are still sketchy, but sources close to the company say instant messaging will play a key role. While the popular IM software already lets people listen to online radio, new versions will let people share and interact with one another's digital playlists.
"The whole advantage that (Yahoo) has is using its broad reach to push products and integrate them," said one source familiar with the plan who spoke under the condition of anonymity.
Yesterday I was pondering when Yahoo! would release its social networking suite, based on the assertion that they've got many many pieces in place already. Then, I forgot to even consider the Yahoo! Messenger (as a Trillian user I hate them all, but I do actually hate the Yahoo! one the least).
I'm not sure where legal file trading really fits with IM, nor of the collective tinkering of playlists, but I can sense that there's a model present that will better reveal itself in the near-term.