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FYI. From The Register today
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/11/real_relaxes_helix_licence/)

Real relaxes media player tech licence
By Tony Smith
Published Friday 11th February 2005 09:52 GMT
RealNetworks has eased the restrictions embedded in its commercial licence
in a bid to encourage more device makers to support its technology, in
turn to widen the potential user-base of its content services.
Under the new licensing regime, third-parties are able to take any part of
Real's Helix DNA playback system, including the various codecs and
protocol stacks. To date, all these technologies have been available only
as a single package - if you wanted the RealVideo codec, you had to take
the player too.
RealNetworks hopes that device makers and their software development
partners will continue to do so. Nokia, for instance, which licensed
RealPlayer back on 2002, this week upgraded its licence to take in Helix
DNA Player, ensuring future Series 60 and Series 80 phones will be able to
play a range of audio and video content, not just the RealVideo material
that the likes of the 6600 can only handle today.
But for those handset vendors who favour other playback applications, now
there's the option to add support for Real-encoded content.
Either way, Real hopes the scheme will attract more developers to its
technology, helping it compete more strongly with Microsoft's Windows
Media system and Apple's iTunes. All three companies are increasingly
pursuing the mobile phone market, pitching their technologies at handset
makers and network operators in the hope of ultimately attracting more
users to their or their partners' content services. Certainly the bulk of
Real's revenues come from content sales, rather than selling the tools
that enable the delivery of that content.
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FYI. From The Register today (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/11/real_relaxes_helix_licence/)



Real relaxes media player tech licence

By Tony Smith

Published Friday 11th February 2005 09:52 GMT

RealNetworks has eased the restrictions embedded in its commercial licence in a bid to encourage more device makers to support its technology, in turn to widen the potential user-base of its content services.

Under the new licensing regime, third-parties are able to take any part of Real's Helix DNA playback system, including the various codecs and protocol stacks. To date, all these technologies have been available only as a single package - if you wanted the RealVideo codec, you had to take the player too.

RealNetworks hopes that device makers and their software development partners will continue to do so. Nokia, for instance, which licensed RealPlayer back on 2002, this week upgraded its licence to take in Helix DNA Player, ensuring future Series 60 and Series 80 phones will be able to play a range of audio and video content, not just the RealVideo material that the likes of the 6600 can only handle today.

But for those handset vendors who favour other playback applications, now there's the option to add support for Real-encoded content.

Either way, Real hopes the scheme will attract more developers to its technology, helping it compete more strongly with Microsoft's Windows Media system and Apple's iTunes. All three companies are increasingly pursuing the mobile phone market, pitching their technologies at handset makers and network operators in the hope of ultimately attracting more users to their or their partners' content services. Certainly the bulk of Real's revenues come from content sales, rather than selling the tools that enable the delivery of that content.
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