Beats to buy MOG so HTC can integrate music streaming?
US music streaming service MOG is rumoured to get grabbed by Beats -- which is majority-owned by Android giant HTC.
It looks like everyone's favourite Taiwanese mobile maker HTC could be lining up its own music streaming service for preloading as an app on future HTC phones.
Mashable Business is reporting that Beats, the headphone maker that's majority owned by HTC, whose logo brands the rump of many an HTC device, is buying US music streaming service MOG.
Mashable cites "multiple reports" as confirmation that an acquisition first rumoured on Monday is in the pipeline. HTC, however, provided me with the following rumour-quashing statement: "Rumours and speculation of an acquisition of MOG by HTC are untrue."
Nonetheless, it provides wiggle room when you consider it would technically be Beats doing the buying, not HTC. MOG had not responded to a request for confirmation of the acquisition at the time of writing.
MOG, which was founded in June 2005, has a catalogue of 14 million songs -- making it slightly smaller than Spotify's 15 million-ish. As well as streaming songs, MOG allows unlimited song downloads to Android devices, the iPhone or iPod touch for offline listening. It also shouts about its music quality -- claiming it has the best audio quality of any music service, streaming at 320kbps.
HTC has recently unboxed a new line-up of phones -- the three devices in its One Series, the One X, the One S and the One V -- all of which bear the Beats tattoo on their rear.
Mashable reports that HTC owns a 51 per cent majority stake in Beats Electronics, which it acquired in August last year for $309m.
Do you reckon HTC needs its own music-streaming service? Or would you rather use a separate app like Spotify? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or sing it loud over on our Facebook page.