Carriers take on Apple with new music service

Stephen Withers
Monday, 12 February 2007 12:03

Your IT - Mobility

Twenty-three mobile network operators have signed up for Omnifone's MusicStation, an 'all you can eat' mobile music service with a weekly subscription fee of just under two pounds.

Unlike the iTunes Store, MusicStation delivers music over the air to handsets without involving a computer as an intermediary. This allows carriers to take a cut of the revenue, and may therefore be seen as a response to Apple's recently announced iPhone and more generally to iTunes-compatible phones such as the Motorola RAZR V3i.

"We will ensure the vast majority of Europeans have the freedom to choose MusicStation by the time iPhone arrives in Europe," said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone.

"MusicStation will give users of any music-capable handset the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from a global music catalogue supported by the music industry, all for a small weekly fee, wherever they are," he added.

Telenor (Scandinavia) and Vodacom (South Africa) are the first networks to announce they will offer the service in the second quarter. Four more networks in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific will be added by mid-year, with additional European partners in the  third  quarter.

Existing partners have mobile phone networks in Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and UK.

On the content side, Omnifone says it is working with "the world's major music labels" as well as independents. "Universal Music Group International are looking forward to the launch of MusicStation," said Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, for Universal Music Group International.

MusicStation requires client software running on the handset, and Omnifone plans to have it preloaded on handsets to simplify things for users and to maximise the number of potential subscribers.