News Archive

Revenue from mobile music will reach EUR 6.8 billion in 2005, which will make it the second-largest data revenue category after information services, says market-analysis firm IDC. And by 2009 music-enabled devices will represent 54 percent of global handset sales, according to a report by Strategy Analytics. These predictions indicate that the telecom industry may finally have found the 3G "killer application" it has been waiting for, but the quest to make music truly mobile remains a complex and multidimensional affair.

The first challenge is that most mobile handsets are optimized for voice communication, which requires far less battery power and memory capacity than downloading or playing music. But new handsets are now starting to appear. In September, Samsung launched a 1.5Gb capacity device called the SPH-V5400, and T-Mobile plans to launch a music-enabled phone in Germany this November.

Motorola has also entered the race, earlier this year announcing a partnership with Apple to develop software that will enable its phones to act as digital music players. Notably, though, the solution that Apple and Motorola are initially proposing will not permit over-the-air file downloads, thus keeping operators out of the revenue stream. As most mobile phones are bought by network operators to be sold on to subscribers, this could prove to be a stumbling block for the pair.

As if to affirm this point, Nokia and US digital media company Loudeye have announced a partnership to create a platform that will allow mobile networks to offer their own music download services. Nokia, still the world's largest handset manufacturer, likely intends to boost demand for its products by demonstrating to operators a music service that appeals to consumers and encourages them to use 3G networks.

Yet operators are not waiting around for handset manufacturers. O2's Irish subsidiary has already launched Europe's first mobile "over-the-air" music download service, O2 Music, which allows subscribers to select and download tracks via their mobiles onto a specially designed digital music player. While some of the world's largest music companies provide content for the service, Siemens provides back-end support.

Siemens was in fact responsible for overall development of the O2 Music service. And now the German company is leveraging this experience into an offering of its own, Music2You, which will provide end-to-end music download services to mobile operators around the world. Such complete solutions are expected to increase in number and scope as operators fight to get a stake in the new mobile music market.

Ericsson is also offering operators an end-to-end solution: M-USE. Integrated, managed and hosted by Ericsson, M-USE features full music downloads from both Sony Music and Warner Music International. In addition the service can deliver a variety of realtones (ring tones playing the original music), polyphonic ring tones, StarMMS (artist pictures and music clips), artist greetings and artist news. M-USE also has personalization features and search functions, so that consumers can find the right music for their particular tastes.