Canonical, the lead commercial sponsor behind Ubuntu Linux, is expanding its efforts to Apple’s iPhone.
Today, Canonical announced the release of a new music streaming app for Apple’s iPhone. The Ubuntu One Music Streaming app enables users of the Ubuntu One service to stream music to iPhones.
Ubuntu One got started back in 2009 as a way for Ubuntu Linux to store and backup content remotely. In July of this year, Canonical announced that they had crossed the 1 million user mark for the service.
The music streaming capability is an addition for the iPhone that expands the usability of Ubuntu One beyond just Ubuntu Linux desktops.
“The new Ubuntu One Music Streaming app for iPhone comes packed full of great functionality and an elegant new UI, so you can wirelessly sync your entire music collection saved to your Ubuntu One personal cloud,” Canonical wrote in a blog post. “Along with supporting MP3’s and non-DRM iTunes song formats we;ve made managing your music on the fly easy, so you can browse and search by artist, album, or song title.”
It’s not clear if the new Music streaming app is also available for Android users. Canonical did not respond to a request for comment from InternetNews.com by press time.
The basic Ubuntu One service provides a free option which gives users 5 GB of free storage. The Music Streaming addition however is not part of the free option and comes with a cost. Canonical charges $3.99 a month, and provides users with up to 20 GB of music file storage.
Ubuntu One is an integrated part of Ubuntu Linux which is one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions. The most recent version, Ubuntu 11.04 came out earlier this year, with the codename ‘Natty Narhwal’. Developers are currently at work on Ubuntu 11.10 set for release in October.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.