Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

This news hardly comes as surprising, but according to Jim Cady who is the current president of Slacker, the G2 will be phased out sometime during the second half of 2010.

According to the details given, the hardware player does not “fit with the company’s long-term strategy” which is shifting towards the online music service as well as mobile apps.  In other words, Slacker is ditching the G2 and not coming back with any new hardware based player to replace it. 

Slacker currently offers a streaming service that is browser based as well an app for Windows based PC’s.  Additionally, they also offer mobile apps for devices to include the iPhone and BlackBerry.  Both mobile apps are nice, however the iPhone does not allow the ability to cache music for offline use, the BlackBerry on the other hand does. 

In terms of making money, Slacker is currently ad-supported, but they also have a paid option available that costs $3.99 per month.  Those that subscribe lose the ads and also get the complete song lyrics and the ability to skip an unlimited amount of tracks.

Finally, for those still interested in the hardware G2 player, it is still available and selling both on the Slacker website and also at big-box retailer Best Buy.

Read [WSJ]