RealNetworks buys Sony unit

Continuing to bolster its wireless business, RealNetworks said Wednesday it has acquired an arm of Sony that provides music services to mobile operators in Europe.

The Seattle digital-media company paid $9 million in cash for Sony NetServices, based in Salzburg, Austria.

Sony NetServices has developed a music service, previously called StreamMan, that offers users the choice of downloading music or streaming it directly to a phone or computer.

The service is available in eight countries in Europe, mainly through telecommunications giant Vodafone.

The acquisition adds to RealNetworks' ability to offer mobile operators such technologies as on-demand music and video, games and ringback tones — the songs a person hears while waiting for a call to be answered.

RealNetworks said Sony NetServices, which will stay in Austria, will be called RealNetworks GmbH.

RealNetworks said it expects Sony NetServices to generate $1 million in sales in the second quarter and $7 million in the rest of 2007.

RealNetworks said in September it was buying South Korean company WiderThan for $350 million. WiderThan helps carriers sell ringback tones and music download services.

The deal was designed to help RealNetworks integrate technology such as the Rhapsody online music service into its mobile offerings.

With these two acquisitions, RealNetworks said its mobile partners can offer music in any form to their subscribers, including ringtones, ringback tones and music on demand.

But RealNetworks is not on its way to becoming a wireless company, said Larry Moores, a marketing and business development executive there. He described the purchases as part of a broader strategy to offer music to people wherever they are.

"It's basically access to your music whenever you want, delivered through multiple-access technologies and networks," he said.

"RealNetworks understands that a major part of delivering this 360-degree ubiquitous music experience is mobile."

Kim Peterson: 206-464-2360 or kpeterson@seattletimes.com