Former Nokia music service MixRadio is shutting down
Another Nokia creation bites the dust.
When Nokia signed a deal with Microsoft to license Windows Phone, the Finnish smartphone maker built a suite of apps to help lure iOS and Android users to the platform. It launched dedicated navigation and camera apps, but also a music app called MixRadio.
The free streaming service, which started life as Nokia Comes With Music in 2007, remained exclusive to Windows Phone until shortly after Microsoft acquired Nokia and the software giant deemed MixRadio surplus to requirements. After little more than a year, its current owner, Japanese messaging firm Line, has also decided enough is enough and announced today that will shut down the streaming service.
In a statement, Line hints that a lack of revenue was behind MixRadio's closure: "After a careful assessment of the subsidiary's overall performance, the financial challenges posed by the music streaming market, and priorities of LINE Corporation, LINE has determined that future growth would be difficult to ensure and decided to discontinue the MixRadio music streaming service."
Although the service will be phased out in the "coming weeks," Line says it will continue to offer music streaming via its Line Music app, which is currently live in Japan and Thailand. There's no word on whether the company plans to widen the number of launch markets, so if you're an existing MixRadio user, you may soon need to find a new streaming home.
