Microsoft plans mobile DRM

THE SOFTWARE giant Microsoft is planning to have a crack at getting into the mobile digital rights management (DRM) market.

The Vole has signed a deal with Japan's NTT DoCoMo phone company to standardise that provider's phones with Windows Media Audio and Windows Media DRM.

Microsoft has big plans to get a universal DRM standard at some point, based around its own software, of course.

It would mean kicking out Apple's FairPlay DRM but since that is focused on the iPod, it might be that Vole can entice other DRM users to opt for its product.

According to Arstechnica, if the Vole has already hinted that it wants to become more of a media company and therefore getting Windows Media DRM into a few hundred million phones might not be a bad start.

The move is just in Japan at the moment, where Vole is not a big player in the media electronics market. However NTT DoCoMo does have a lot of pull in other countries. If it all works, then Microsoft could see its DRM system spreading. µ

L'INQ
Arsetechnica