INSIDE MOBILE: The Looming Rich Media Wars: Apple vs. the World

Pandora, Rhapsody and Sirius XM

We've already seen a good example of how remote access can be successful with the acceptance of Pandora, the streaming service that tries to personalize channels of music streams based on your personal interests. Another good example is the approach taken by RealNetworks for their Rhapsody service provided through Yahoo. And, of course, another great of streaming remote access rental is Sirius XM, which is slowly migrating out of satellite-to-car radio to being a full-fledged subscription service on many devices—including notebooks, handhelds and tablets.

While remote access via streaming works, there are still limitations in what you can access. While Apple provides access to recently broadcast shows (for example, access to "Modern Family" the next day), there is still not a generic way to access recently broadcast content from the previous night.

In the end, I suspect users will desire to always own some of their favorite rich media content such as their favorite TV show, music or movie. But, for much of the time, users will use remote access content rental to get what they want when they want it, via streaming from one or more services.

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D. is Principal Analyst of Mobile & Wireless at MobileTrax LLC. As a nationally recognized industry authority, Dr. Purdy focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market behavior in the mobile computing and wireless data communications industry in North America. Dr. Purdy is an "edge of network" analyst looking at devices, applications and services, as well as wireless connectivity to those devices. Dr. Purdy provides critical insights regarding mobile and wireless devices, wireless data communications and connection to the infrastructure that powers the data in the wireless handheld. He is author of the column Inside Mobile & Wireless that provides industry insights and is read by over 100,000 people a month.

Dr. Purdy continues to be affiliated with the venture capital industry as well. He currently is Managing Director at Yosemite Ventures. And he spent five years as a Venture Advisor for Diamondhead Ventures in Menlo Park where he identified, attracted and recommended investments in emerging companies in mobile and wireless. He has had a prior affiliation with East Peak Advisors and, subsequently, following their acquisition, with FBR Capital Markets. For more than 16 years, Dr. Purdy has been consulting, speaking, researching, networking, writing and developing state-of-the-art concepts that challenge people's mind-sets, as well as developing new ways of thinking and forecasting in the mobile computing and wireless data arenas. Often quoted, Dr. Purdy's ideas and opinions are followed closely by thought leaders in the mobile and wireless industry. He is author of three books as well.

Dr. Purdy currently is a member of the Program Advisory Board of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) which produces CES, one of the largest trade shows in the world. He is a frequent moderator at CTIA conferences and GSM Mobile World Congress. He also is a member of the Board of the Atlanta Wireless Technology Forum. Dr. Purdy has a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from University of Tennessee, a M.S. degree in Computer Science from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Exercise Physiology from Stanford University. He can be reached at gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com.

Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column. If that situation happens, then I'll disclose it at that time.