IFA 2010 – BERLIN. Sony has announced it will challenge Apple’s iTunes store with a new streaming music service. At the same, it will roll outVideo On Demand powered by Qriocity, a premium streaming video service, in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK this autumn. The service has been available in the US since April 2010.
Under the name Music Unlimited Qriocity will offers “millions of songs in the cloud”. Initially, the music service will be available on network-enabled Bravia TVs, Blu-ray Disc playersand Home Theatre systems, as well as PlayStation 3 consoles, with portable devices to be added at a later stage.
Movies will be available in both SD and HD quality from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), NBC Universal International Television Distribution, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, as well as content from local studios.
In November 2009, Sony said that it was developing a network service platform called Sony Online Services (SOLS), which is now called Qriocity. This network service platform connects many of Sony’s network-enabled devices and allows consumers to access entertainment across multiple devices including ther PlayStation 3, Blu-ray players, Bravia internet connected TVs and PCs. Via Qriocity, Sony will deliver a variety of digital entertainment content and services that are “powered by Qriocity”, including video, music, game applications, and e-books over time.
