RealNetworks Pushes Unifi Cloud-Based Media Service To Carriers

Cloud-based services are definitely all the rage these days, but there's hardly a better name for a new cloud service than this: Unifi. A tasteful play on words, this new solution was announced this week at MWC by RealNetworks, who is revealed a new personal media cloud service for carriers to potentially offer clients. The first operator to sign on is Vodafone Germany, as their version will go live in the first half of this year.

Unifi lets users organize, access and enjoy the photos, music and videos they own on any Internet-connected device. Vodafone Germany will be the first operator to offer its 36.7 million mobile customers access to their personal media collection anywhere, with their subscriptions to Unifi easily managed through their regular monthly phone bill. RealNetworks is working with mobile operators and other partners worldwide to bring the new Unifi personal cloud service to consumers' PCs, tablets and smart phones. Consumers will have the option of adding Unifi to their monthly mobile service on a single bill. Unifi increases consumer engagement with mobile media, by enabling access their photos, music, playlists and videos from any of their mobile devices. In this way, Unifi encourages smartphone and data plan upgrades and increases ARPU.

Of course, it remains to be seen if the RealNetwork name is still admired by consumers. Lately, it's been related to heavy DRM and such, but the company's still awfully strong. Unifi solves one of the escalating problems of the digital age: how to keep track of the thousands of photos, music tracks and videos stored on multiple devices and online services so a user can easily find and enjoy them. Unifi is the complete library of all the media you own, all accessible from any internet-connected device. �It doesn't matter whether your digital content is stored on your devices, on your social media sites, or in the cloud. �Unifi catalogues and organizes your content into a single digital library, organized in a way that lets you easily find, access and enjoy what you want ? by media type, by device or through tags.

We assume pricing will vary by consumer, but the last thing most consumers want is another monthly bill. We think it'll take some serious marketing and a little bit of luck to pull it off, but anything's possible.

RealNetworks Previews Unifi Personal Media Cloud Service to Mobile Operators at Mobile World Congress

BARCELONA, Spain and SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World Congress -- RealNetworks�, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the digital entertainment services company, today previewed Unifi?, a new personal media cloud service, to operators at Mobile World Congress. The first operator to offer their customers Unifi will be Vodafone Germany in the first half of 2011.

Unifi, which won the "Best of CES" award from CNET last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in the software, services and applications category, will let users organize, access and enjoy the photos, music and videos they own on any Internet-connected device. Vodafone Germany will be the first operator to offer its 36.7 million mobile customers access to their personal media collection anywhere, with their subscriptions to Unifi easily managed through their regular monthly phone bill.

Unifi is the latest in a long list of services Vodafone Germany and RealNetworks have provided together to customers.� RealNetworks began providing Vodafone with services in 2005, with ringback tone services in Germany starting in 2008.

RealNetworks is working with mobile operators and other partners worldwide to bring the new Unifi personal cloud service to consumers' PCs, tablets and smart phones. Consumers will have the option of adding Unifi to their monthly mobile service on a single bill. Unifi increases consumer engagement with mobile media, by enabling access their photos, music, playlists and videos from any of their mobile devices. In this way, Unifi encourages smartphone and data plan upgrades and increases ARPU.

RealNetworks' rich heritage in delivering digital media to millions of people daily, its enormous worldwide user base and its deep relationship with the world's top operators make it uniquely qualified to successfully deliver this service to consumers.

Unifi solves one of the escalating problems of the digital age: how to keep track of the thousands of photos, music tracks and videos stored on multiple devices and online services so a user can easily find and enjoy them. Unifi is the complete library of all the media you own, all accessible from any internet-connected device.� It doesn't matter whether your digital content is stored on your devices, on your social media sites, or in the cloud.� Unifi catalogues and organizes your content into a single digital library, organized in a way that lets you easily find, access and enjoy what you want ? by media type, by device or through tags.

RealNetworks offers mobile operators a comprehensive selection of services including music, video ring-back tones and personalization and messaging services.� Its SaaS services are currently deployed with more than 90 mobile operators to over 37 million subscribers in 50 countries, delivering 136 billion inter-carrier messages per quarter.� The company aims to support any business model, any device and any digital media format, ensuring that consumers can enjoy their digital media anywhere while helping mobile operators increase and retain customers.

RealNetworks will be demonstrating the Unifi service by appointment at Mobile World Congress in a hospitality suite in The Fira, Hall 4, Level 0, Monday, 14 February to Thursday, 17 February.

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