TuneWiki's iPhone-Like Media Player for Android

The race is on for software supremacy on Google's Android platform, as developers compete to develop the applications that will eventually come preloaded on branded phones. Today TuneWiki, one of the most popular third-party developers for the iPhone, has announced a media player for Android that will feature an iPhone-esque interface, support for synching with iTunes, and the karaoke-like lyric functionality that put them on the map.

Owners of jailbroken iPhones may be familiar with TuneWiki already - As we mentioned last week, the iPhone version has seen "hundreds of thousands" of downloads since December 2007. The iPhone version of the software features a player that displays karaoke-style lyrics in time with songs in the device's library. TuneWiki has partnered with Universal to provide lyrics legally, and has ongoing talks with other music labels.

The Android version of the software has the same karaoke synching, with added support for music videos that are synched with lyrics. While this is significant in itself, the real news here is the media player that will accompany the software. From the brief demonstration seen in the video below, the player seems to be every bit as usable as the one seen on the iPhone (it looks nearly exactly the same, which isn't a bad thing).

Android may be an "Open" platform that will allow handset manufacturers (and possibly users) to install whatever applications they want, but we're going to be seeing a few dominant leaders emerge in each space. There won't be any shortage of iPhone-imitating apps, but TuneWiki has given itself a leg up by establishing a number of features that will be difficult to replicate. Whether or not these will be enough to lift TuneWiki above the rest of the pack remains to be seen.

You can try an emulated version of the software (minus some of the navigation seen in the video) here.