I think I have seen the future on online audio when I see that Apple has agreed to offering the Spotify music-streaming application for the iPhone in its app store.
But when will I see the future of online voice telephony?
Spotify removes the need to download MP3s, with its enormous library of tracks which can be streamed for free on your PC or for £9.99 a month on the iPhone.
Who will buy another CD when all you have to do is click on a link to listen to Marillion or the Beach Boys?
That's the future of inline audio, instant access to content anytime, anywhere. In many cases it is open access right now which is even better. Will that change? I suspect it will.
But the cost model is sure to be more attractive than paying £16 for a CD in the high street.
Similarly, Apple's decision to sell the TomTom route-navigating application for the iPhone could also change the way we buy a wider range of consumer products.
Universal hardware, in this case the iPhone, but it could also be any netbook or smartphone, will be used to run the application you want. All it needs is a software download.
You pay for the download, but the prices will vary and in some cases could be free.
All we now need to complete the picture is for the revolution in online voice calls to take hold.
Services like Skype are leading the way, despite Apple's reluctance to embrace it.
So what is the future of online voice telephony?
Free voice calls over networks financed by data traffic and in other ways, such as selling advertising and services.
An example of this in operation was the pre-satellte commercial TV model, which was that the programmes were free, it was the adverts which paid.
The Swedish guys behind Spotify have applied a version of this model to music streaming and this week Apple seems to have accepted that this could be the future of online audio.
This despite being the owner of the largest music download business - iTunes.
Spotify, the legal streaming music startup that has wowed even Mark Zuckerburg, has now had its iPhone app approved by Apple, and now awaits an appearance on the App Store. How did they get an app approved which streams thousands of music tracks on demand and which potentially competes with iTunes? The short answer is no-one is saying quite how, but it's pretty easy to surmise that iTunes won't be affected since the app will only work for paying Spotify subscribers, who currently pay a premium subscription which currently stands at €10 a month in Europe. In which case Apple's policy of blocking apps that duplicate native apps (like iTunes) would not apply. The green light from Apple now leaves the way open for Spotify to launch in the US, as it's been planning, and attempt a massive change in the music industry for the record labels that have invested in it. No mean feat.

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