Microsoft looking to acquire mobile company Musiwave

Looks like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is interested in acquiring mobile content company Musiwave to up its stance on mobile entertainment. Musiwave gives wireless carriers the capability to offer branded ringtones, callback tones, and even full music track downloads from the web directly to a handset. With mobile ringtones being a billion-dollar industry, it seems appropriate for Microsoft to have interest. Has the revenue ship already sailed for the most part, though?

Not exactly. Musiwave's customers sound like the 'who's who' of European mobile media wireless content providers: O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, Telus, Telefónica, and Virgin Mobile. Will Microsoft use this acquisition to push its Zune and Windows Live brands into the hands of millions of mobile phone users? Of course -- that's the whole reason behind the interest in acquiring Musiwave. Trying to find an edge to gain footage on Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes universe is no easy feat.

Sliding cellphone users into the world of the Zune-i-verse makes for a challenging but doable prospect for Microsoft. Apple iPod Touch and iPhone users can use the WiFi capability of those devices to access and download music content off the air wirelessly, and Microsoft needs the same capability. However, the difference here is that any mobile provider can be used -- not just a generic WiFi wireless internet hotspot.