Apple
The program is available on Apples online store, RealNetworks said in a blog posting yesterday. The company announced the application last month. Apple screens every program that appears in its iPhone App Store.
Rhapsody is the first program to be approved in the U.S. that allows users to select songs for play over the air on their iPhones. Apple has sold 30 million iPhones, giving Rhapsody access to a new group of potential customers for the service, which costs $14.99 a month after a free 7-day trial.
The App Store already includes radio programs like Sirius XM Radio Inc. and Pandora Media Inc., as well as Apples iTunes music store. Unlike with iTunes, Rhapsody users dont own the music they play. Apple has also approved the Spotify music service, which isnt available in the U.S.
RealNetworks, based in Seattle, rose 21 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $3.61 at 12:12 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, and earlier climbed as high as $3.88. The company co-owns Rhapsody with Viacom Inc. Cupertino, California- based Apple added 24 cents to $171.38.
ITunes Agreement
RealNetworks has since 2005 sold a service called Rhapsody To Go, which allows customers to put songs on some mobile phones and music players. Users who subscribe to that service will be able to use the iPhone program with no extra charge.
Rhapsody will also direct users who want to purchase songs to Apples iTunes. RealNetworks then gets a share of that revenue from Apple.
Apple, which started the App Store in July 2008, offers more than 75,000 free and paid programs to users of the iPhone and its iPod Touch media player. The devices rely on iTunes software to manage their content and link up with the store.
Last week shares of Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. jumped 20 percent the day after the company said its mobile-phone application was approved for iPhone use.