Musiwave, which provides music services to mobile phone carriers, has agreed to be acquired by Microsoft, the companies announced in Nov. 2007. Microsoft is vague about its plans for the acquired company, but it could use its technology to boost its mobile device platforms and online services for consumers. Microsoft will pay US$46 million for Musiwave and assume about US$4 million of debt.

Based in Paris, France, Musiwave is a division of Openwave, which provides software and services to mobile phone carriers, handset makers, and broadband ISPs. Musiwave licenses music from content owners and provides technology for mobile operators to deliver this music in particular formats, such as over-the-air downloads, ringtones that are actual song snippets (rather than computer-generated approximations), and "ringback tones," which callers hear in place of a normal telephone ring. Musiwave also offers a mobile phone application called Music Wizard, which automatically identifies songs that are playing in public places and then lets users buy those songs as downloads or ringtones. The company lists 19 customers on its Web site, mostly mobile carriers based in Europe, such as O2 (United Kingdom), Orange (France), T-Mobile (Germany), and Vodafone (U.K.).

Musiwave technology could move into Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform for phones and other mobile devices, making that platform more appealing to consumers and more competitive against Apple's iPhone. Microsoft might also offer Musiwave services directly to mobile phone users through Windows Live. Also, the Music Wizard technology could find its way into a future version of Microsoft's Zune portable music player, or perhaps into a Zune client for mobile phones. The company is emphasizing music discovery and sharing in Zune as a differentiator against Apple's popular iPod.

Musiwave is located at www.musiwave.com.