Rumors about HTC toying with the idea of creating its own Spotify competitor have been circulating for some time, but now we are hearing reports that HTC has or will purchase MOG. For those who are not familiar with the service, MOG is a subscription based music service which gives users direct access to over 14 million songs which can be streamed through a web browser or Android and iOS applications. One of the nicest features included in MOG is the ability to create channels or playlists similar to Pandora, though users are given a slider within the MOG player which controls the music selection balance between Artist Only and Similar Artist.
The latest numbers from Google Play show that MOG has an install base which ranges from 500,000 to 1,000,000. Based on current subscription rates, that would give MOG a monthly revenue stream of $5-$10 million for Android alone. Building in a music subscription service into every HTC phone could be a huge revenue boost for MOG, but we suspect HTC plans on using the service as another inventive to buy one of their phones, similar to the partnership HTC created with DropBox which will give HTC one users 25GB of free storage for two years.
Since MOG has not received as much media attention at Spotify, Pandora and other streaming music services, we would not be surprised if HTC rebranded the music service under the Beats name. HTC has the opportunity to position itself as a leader in the mobile music segment and may be able to use its brands to generate monthly revenue from customers who don’t even own HTC devices. HTC has not released any statements about the MOG acquisition, but if the rumors are true we should suspect the details to be released in the coming days.
What do you think HTC will do with MOG once the acquisition is complete?
Source: Fox Business
Umm… interesting. If this will enable HTC phone owners discounted / free access to MOG music, then this is yet another unique selling point over other Android phones (which is the key in the Android market). And also another excuse to keep charging premium prices for HTC phones vs. less expensive ones from Huawei, etc…
Great to hear about – BUT MOG is only streaming in the STATES and is not a global service