Sony Ericsson is reported to be working on a mobile music service which would offer handset purchasers an unlimited download of music tracks. The move is expected to compete directly with the similar platform from Nokia which is just launching in the UK and offers 12 months worth of unlimited downloads with selected new handsets.
The Financial Times reported that the company is in talks with all the major music labels about a product launch prior to the end of this year.
Warner Music, Universal Music and Sony BMG are all suppliers to the Nokia service - although Sony, the 50:50 joint owner of Sony Ericsson recently took full control of the BMG music label.
Dan Cryan, an analyst at Screen Digest, told the newspaper that competition had encouraged Sony Ericsson to launch a product it had once rejected as devaluing music.
“Sony Ericsson’s market share is shrinking,” he said. “If everybody is launching 'all you can eat’ services, which make handsets more attractive to end users and to operators, they don’t have much choice, especially when so much of their brand value is built around the Walkman.”
On the web: Financial Times
Posted to the site on 9th September 2008
