RealNetworks is to merge its RealPlayer and Music
Services business units into a single group so that the teams can
collaborate on developing new products and services.
The merged unit will bring together teams from RealPlayer,
RealPlayer Music Store, RadioPass and Rhapsody, all divisions of
the company.
The new unit will be led by Robert Acker, currently
vice-president of the RealPlayer business unit, focused on the
company's flagship digital media playback software.
Current Music Services vice-president Sean Ryan will leave the
company later this month, however, "to pursue new business
opportunities".
Ryan came to Real when it bought music startup Listen.com last
year. Through the acquisition, Real gained Listen's Rhapsody music
service, which it has been building up as part of its digital music
strategy.
The decision to merge the groups follows Real's recent move to
take on Apple's iTunes Music Store by offering music from its own
online store that could play on Apple's iPod devices, using Real's
new Harmony technology.
After raising the ire of Apple by reverse-engineering the
digital rights management technology used in iTunes and the iPod,
Real further agitated the rivalry by launching a three-week music
sale that offered tracks and albums at half the price that iTunes
charges.
Real cited the success of that sale, during which it claims to
have sold over three million songs, as part of the impetus to merge
its software and music services units, saying that it realised it
needed to take a more integrated approach to capturing the digital
music market.
It emphasised, however, that RealPlayer's video playback
functions will not be diminished by the company's new focus on
music. That said, Acker has a radio background, and was a founding
member of XM Satellite Radio where he helped the company to develop
consumer satellite radios.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News Service