You’re reading it here first: MediaNama has learned that Motorola is shutting down its Soundbuzz business. Sources within Motorola in India, as well as other industry sources have confirmed the development, and we’re awaiting details from the company about whether this impacts Soundbuzz’ business across South East Asia and Australia. According to our sources, Motorola has “decided to end the Soundbuzz business.” We’ll update when we have more.
This is believed to be a part of the cost reduction exercise from Motorola Mobile Devices: the company will no longer focus on building a e-to-e music services or MotoMusic, for which Soundbuzz had been acquired by Motorola in January 2008. The company was going to use Soundbuzz’ relationships in India, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand to launch its MotoMusic services. Six months after the acquisition, Motorola had launched MotoMusic in India, powered by Soundbuzz. Soundbuzz had been started by for MTV Asia MD Sudhanshu Sarronwala in 1999.
The buzz about Soundbuzz shutting down in India has been there for the last couple of weeks.
Related:
– Motorola Launches MOTOMUSIC In India With MOTOROKR E8
– Updated: Motorola To Acquire Asian Digital Music Service Soundbuzz
– Music Labels In India Are Becoming More Dependent On Mobile
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4 Comments until now.
Stale news!
They have filed for bankruptcy.
Fair enough – we can only report it if we're confident about the development. Two weeks ago, we had contacted Motorola about Soundbuzz, and this is what we got —
We do not comment on rumors or speculation. Our vision for Motorola Mobile Devices is to return the company to prominence as a highly profitable, major global player, delivering compelling products and experiences and to be a leader in the wireless industry. In order to achieve success Motorola is committed to doing what is necessary to address the evolving economic conditions we face and to taking the required steps to enable our recovery.
Will ask them about bankruptcy filing.
Good that medianama has high ethics in reporting. Discretion is important in matters of business and image projection. We cant be talking open about unconfirmed news. As per the economic scenario, layoffs and striking off biz deals is usual.