Microsoft's decision to abandon PlaysForSure by not including it in the newly minted Zune hasn't been the death nail many expected. Napster, a PlaysForSure partner who's recently been looking for a new owner, is still managing to rake in subscribers, and grow revenue. Adding 48,000 subscribers in their fiscal third quarter, the company managed to beat analyst estimates by a bit, and frankly, shock the pants off many naysayers. According to Reuters, "Napster Chief Executive Chris Gorog said the company had significantly improved its strategic position with international expansion to Japan and mobile phone partnerships. Subscribers downloaded 500 million songs and 700 million music streams in calendar 2006, Napster said."
Napster is still courting buyers through investment banking firm UBS but, as of yet no official deal has been announced. Stronger numbers obviously help to make any Napster deal more attractive.
[via Reuters]
1. This is a trivial detail but I thought that it was a "death knell" or "nail in the coffin" not a death nail. Unless this is some previously unknown mystic artifact.
"The Death Nail or, as some prefer to call it, The Nail Of Death!"
Posted at 11:23AM on Jan 5th 2007 by D