As Songza, the free cloud-based music service went mobile and released free apps on both iOS and Android platform, they follow in a long line of music cloud services all vying for their place in this emerging industry.  Offering a service for free, even if it’s a limited portion of the full service, is an important tactic for Songza, Spotify, Google Music and other players as the personal cloud realizes its potential as a media hub for every consumer.

The strategy is an important one when it comes to owning the stack, a concept drawn out nicely in a recent Ars Technica article this week.  The stack consists of four layers, from the carrier to the device, onto the platform and the app itself.  Perhaps you’ve noticed the giant battles taking place across these layers, some even taking their fight to court.

At the center of the stack is the cloud, which spans a portion of every layer mentioned, catalyzing innovation, product and business development in every arena.  The personal cloud in particular is what’s helping to drive this consumerization of IT, where individuals want access to their media from any device, on demand.  It’s a great opportunity for every layer of the stack to monetize their position, and even help them expand across layers for even more domination as the mobile war shakes out the winners and losers.

mSpot finds itself in a unique position amongst these stack layers, weaving a story of survival that spans nearly a decade in the mobile cloud business.  In the early days, mSpot found itself forging in a new market, with streaming radio and other personal cloud services that seemed near impossible on the mobile front at the time.  mSpot focused on its technology, building its proprietary software and making it a flexible offering that’s lasted the mobile transition we currently find ourselves in.

mSpot found great value in partnering with carriers, providing backend technology for companies like Verizon to extend personal cloud and streaming music services directly to their customers.  And it’s still a strong aspect of what mSpot’s doing to thrive in today’s mobile market.  But as consumers gain power in various sectors of content distribution and access, mSpot must also focus on the end user as the platform layer of the stack continues to mature.  To that end, mSpot goes up against mainstream offerings like the upcoming iCloud from Apple.

“Apple is good in a closed ecosystem–their devices are prettier and easier to use,” says Daren Tsui, mSpot CEO and co-founder.  “What’s clever about Android is that it’s a group of very large companies going up against Apple.  With the cloud play, a similar thing will happen.  Apple will have its iCloud with fans down to the core, where all their devices are Apple and they’ll be content with iCloud.  But for many, you may have an iPad as well as an Android smartphone.  Our ecosystem is perfect for you because we work on both devices.  We’re going to focus on both in the event you own a non-iOS device and still want access to your music.”

Addressing the consumer means creating a strategy on as many layers of the mobile stack as possible.  It’s a necessary tactic Appcelerator uncovered during a survey of its own network of mobile developers.  For this aspect of the ecosystem, it’s not about which platform, but how to exist regardless of platform.  This shift in power is driving a lot of decisions around how the ecosystem will shape up, with consumer interests inflicting more and more influence every day.