Nokia and RealNetworks talk up alliance

Nokia has expanded its alliance with RealNetworks to allow the mobile phone giant to ship RealAudio, RealVideo and the Helix DNA powered RealPlayer on a wider variety of devices.

The agreement builds on the existing deal between the two companies that began in 2002 and made RealPlayer the standard media player of the Series 60 platform.

Antti Vasara, vice president of mobile software sales and marketing at Nokia, noted that the collaboration has resulted in the delivery of over 20 handset models based on Series 60 and the Symbian operating system bundled with RealPlayer.

Nokia said that it has also joined the Helix Community, and will work with engineers to develop and port Helix-based media technology including the Helix DNA client media engine, along with RealAudio and RealVideo, to a range of Nokia devices and the Series 60 platform.

RealNetworks also unveiled a licensing option that allows manufacturers to integrate RealAudio and RealVideo with the multi-format Helix DNA client media engine, or a different media player of their choice, with no "differential" in cost.