Quick Friday post on the events of this week:

The week has of course been dominated by politics.  We don’t cover that topic in this space.  However, we have been watching the explosive rise in social networks directly related to political usage.  Just sign on to Twitter and the top of the page has popular political feeds.  Twitter is heavily used by this niche.  Facebook seems to be gaining popularity as well in the niche.  I have noticed more and more politicians with
Facebook pages as opposed to My Space as well.

The other big news of the week is the slew of companies that have taken aim at Apple’s IPhone, IPod and ITunes services.

My Space has launched their music service.  They have an edge with musicians having already been a key driver in the growth of the network. However, they may have missed their own grass roots ideals by leaving out the independents as of right now.  Long Tail theory adherents will tell you that the obscure songs were a building block for ITunes.  Not to mention the alienation of a group that worked to make My Space so popular.

My Space joins Amazon and Rhapsody at taking aim at Apple’s stronghold. At this point, I don’t think the two predecessors have made that much of a dent.  My Space controls 200 million plus subscribers so they are positioned for an impact as long as the subscribers feel they are getting a value for the new service.

Nokia is the other 800 pound gorilla that has drawn the bow.  Nokia changed their philosophy from hardware to software and has already shown some successes.  The company has a strong marketing team and could very well give Apple some issues.  The company will release a new ‘touch’ phone although it will not be available in major markets until next year.  They have added a ‘With Music’ feature that will be a subscription service that is absorbed in the price of the phone.

The third entrant is a relative newcomer.  The Slacker is a mobile music device with a twist.  Instead of adding one by one each song, Slacker has a radio playlist service.  Users choose the stations that fit their interests, ala Yahoo’s music service.  Users can also make their own station.  The selling feature is that music stays fresh.

Whether or not these three companies are successful, their entry marks an expansion.  The area that has not been addressed to my knowledge is the user generated content.  I am thinking about podcasts.  If any of these three can look to aggregate delivery of this type of content then even the hardcore Apple followers would likely take notice.

Either way if you market around music or are looking at this type of content, then you have many more options in the mobile arena.