In a smartphone world, content licensing remains murky Fiercemobilecontent
What's old is new again, it seems, even in mobile content.
Veterans of the space may remember the drawn-out hand-wringing over legally licensed ringtones (back when ringtones were still considered a huge business). The issue centered on third-party providers selling ringtones without approval from the music studios that owned the content. Indeed, disagreements over the practice continue to this day .
Well, it seems the issue has sprung up anew, though disguised in the garb of today's app store frenzy.
But let's start at the beginning: On testing Verizon Wireless' HTC-built Droid Incredible, I took a stroll through Google's Android Market and was surprised to find what seemed like endless "soundboard" applications. Android users can get soundboard applications for all kinds of popular people and characters, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Homer Simpson. Once downloaded, these apps provide a list of pithy quotes (Arnold deadpanning "I'll be back," for example), and you can listen to them over and over again by pressing the appropriate button. Great fun.