MySpace buys iLike: what are the mobile implications?

Rumours become reality as social network acquires popular social music service.

MySpace has formally announced that it's buying social music startup iLike, following several days of rumours pointing to a $20 million acquisition. However, MySpace hasn't confirmed the price.

The deal is predominantly about online services, with MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta saying last night that MySpace plans to use iLike's social recommendation technology not just for music, but for entertainment, video and games.

The company also says iLike's current services will be unaffected. It remains to be seen if that truly is the case, though. While MySpace seems happy to keep iLike's hugely popular Facebook application going, Facebook may now take a different view.

So what about mobile? iLike has made several moves into the iPhone apps space in recent months, including launching its own local concerts listings app, a trivia game called iLike Challenge, and more than 250 marketing apps for bands and musicians.

It's this latter aspect that may be most relevant to MySpace. Although it wasn't mentioned in the conference call arranged last night to announce the acquisition, these artist apps would fit well with MySpace's offering to music artists.