Spotify to go Mobile

Spotify, the streaming music service that has been gathering a major fan base here in Europe has been setting up for penetration efforts into the mobile market with the recent hire of a new Head of Mobile Operations and the anticipated development of an iPhone application. This comes hot on the heels after launching the release of an Android App video that it has been testing with Google this week.

Spotify, originally based in Sweden, was launched in the UK in February through a viral spread. The operation has managed to raise a large amount of funding so far, with 15.3m Euro from Venture capitals Northzone Venture Partners and Creandum.

While the Android App is far from complete and is subject to changes, it provides a good overview of the thought and direction of the company and reveals several features such as playback, playlist, offline synch and music search.

The service is still not available in the U.S. market yet but shows massive global potential. It lets the user search, browse and stream a huge collection of music, the adoption rate in the Europe has been overwhelming. Tracks are streamed in an encrypted P2P technology and the entire service is offered for free through the use of ad- financing.

It has been compared to Last FM and Pandora, though it's service is subscription based. It operates as a fully playable iTunes library and allows users to easily create playlists. Some see it's future as an alternative to file sharing which is the main interest point for many music labels in the relatively new initiative. Many are describing it as the new commercial radio station without the annoyance of a DJ, where you listen to tunes that you specifically select, this is occasionally interrupted with a targeted advert, on the free version of the subscription. The future is indeed interesting for Spotify, watch this space to see how it unfolds between now and the end of the year.