HP hints at cloud music service for webOS 24
The same day that we saw apps from HP based on their Melodeo music service acquisition, HP is hinting that they do indeed intend on leveraging the iTunes-to-the-cloud service to provide a streaming music solution for webOS phones.
In an interview with Financial Times, HP Senior Vice-President Steven McArthur focused on cloud computing in HP and webOS' future:
One early cloud service to be aimed at consumers will be a system for streaming music to multiple devices. “As we roll out PCs to folks, we can give them opportunities to store and upload music to the cloud,” Mr McArthur said.
The music will be streamed to HP’s smartphones, which will also store the most listened-to songs on the gadget for faster playback.
Those plans sound exactly like what we were hoping for - but we'll see if they intend to hew to nuTsie (that's 'iTunes' remixed) roots of working with iTunes or if they'll utilize another desktop music player.
On another note and in a vein near to our own hearts (pun intended), Jon 'last-exec-standing' Rubinstein also took part in the interview. Rubinstein "expressed some frustration at the lack of new Palm products since the company's acquisition." Amen, brother.
Rubinstein also noted that although HP had been planning to launch an Android smartphone but scuttled those plans after buying Palm.
Source: FT.com; Thanks to Jason for the tip!
24 Comments
This is exciting, but its too bad I got an mp3 before hand. And if its going to be syncing like an actual Mp3 that means this feature will probably be in the UPDATE!
I think Palm should differentiate itself from Apple and Android by providing cloud storage. Lets say they provide 10 Gigs of free cloud storage instead of a SD card, that would go a long way saying how different palm is from Apple and Google.
Please Please just no itunes. Lets use something different.
+1 No iTunes on my machine ever. Might work well on a Mac but nothing but troubles on a PC. Don't think it exists for Linux either.
+2
Does this mean I have to use iTunes for this? I hate iTunes. I hate anything with an "i" in front of it. lol. And its good to hear something from Rubinstein. He hasnt been in the news for a while.
WebOS 2 isn't ready and they won't say anything !
I think part of that article was missed, and its somthing I see instantly. NO NEW HARDWARE WITH WEBOS 2.0;
A former head of Apple
He's not going announce a new device in an article in Financial Times. He didnt mention there WASN'T going to be a new device either. He just mentioned 2.0. Even if they release 2.0 before a new device, thats a MAJOR update compared to 1.4.5. Isnt this update supposed to make better use of battery life and make things more responsive and all that? That will hold me over until a new device.
Honestly, I don't overclock the pre. I have but I currently and mostly did not. I have seen Battery Life as a noted improvement in practically every single update.
Have I noticed anything different. Nope. So they go can battery life all they want. Thats like verizon stating the mobile hotspot app was improved in 1.4.5, come on seriously.
In my eyes, 2.0 will change the look and feel of the pre. Im just saying if 2.0 is all thats coming out, I'll be happy with it still. Im not one of those people who hates my phone and am dying for a new one. I love my Pre.
I don't know where you are getting that, but this snippit doesnt' say that. He is frustrated on the lack of new products since acquisition until the date of the interiew. He is confident on Webos 2.0
You may be right but he could have wanted newer phones to come out now before webos like end of August, but they won't be out until webos 2.0 is out and he is frustrated by that. I hope the scenario I just indicated is the right one anyway.
That was on the original article, if you click the source you will read that.
Interesting that Rubinstein expressed frustration, what would be the cause of this frustration exactly?
First thing that comes to mind is that HP didn't like what was in the pipeline and is adjusting it as some rumors would suggest. I hope it means a better product in the end. I'm on my third pre through what I would say is no fault of my own. I have never had a previous phone fail or wear out. I know there are a lot of people with Day 1 phones, but there is a lot of people sporting refurbs as well.
My hope is that Palm was building a phone for a carrier exclusive deal but with HP backing they could focus on building a phone with world reach. This silly American way of letting the carriers decide on what phones you can choose from doesn't work in the rest of the world, and that's a big market.. As I remember it the big reason for not launching everywhere was that they relied on carriers to provide basic hardware support as Palm had no local presence but with HP in 170 countries and logistical and support facilities practically everywhere that shouldn't be a problem.
I just hope their "Cloud" for the music is better than the "Cloud" for backing up the Pre. That has been pretty much a lousy experience.
Patience Padwan !
talk is cheap ruby. Trying to play the sympathizer...ha! I thought "palm" will be a independent company inside HP...HP "is not in the smartphone business"....business as usual at "palm"...
...not falling for it.
I got about a half a pack of rolaids in my pants
I got about a half a pack of rolaids in my pants
So who is paying for my 80gig up load to the cloud ?
Personally I would love nothing more than this, my music far exceeds the tiny 8gigs of storage my pre theoretically holds, far exceeds the plus's storage, hell it far exceeds the ipad's storage and even if I could I probably still want room for photos and apps so I would almost pay for this feature, almost.
Just get Rhapsody to release an app for webOS. They have one for iOS and Android already. I was a Rhapsody-to-go subscriber for years before my Zen Vision died. It's a great service and well worth the $14 a month it costs.
You can try out this service instead. It uploads from iTunes, but then you can either 1) steam the music to your phone (using html5), or 2) download just the songs you want to play and change them out as you want to . ( since there is only so much room on a phone or handheld anyhow.
http://www.acloudofmyown.com