Napster, Ericsson Join for Music Service
Napster and Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson have announced a global partnership to launch a fully mobile music download service for wireless operators. The service will use Napster's brand name and Ericsson will tap its extensive agreements in the mobile marketplace to push the music offering.
The Napster-Ericsson service will support downloading tracks via mobile phone or PC, and works with handsets from all major manufacturers that support content protected by digital rights management. Although the service scales to current phone limitations, it will also be able to take advantage of next-generation technology and high-speed 3G networks.
"Ericsson and Napster are uniquely suited to offer mobile operators a simple, cohesive and personalized digital music experience for their consumers," Napster Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Gorog said in a statement.
Music will be available on a subscription basis, such as NapsterToGo, as well as a la carte like Apple's market-leading iTunes Music Store.
The companies said the music service is expected to go live in Europe within the next 12 months and will initially be offered to operators in selected markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America.
In an interview last month, Napster CTO Bill Pence told BetaNews, "Our vision of Napster is that it is an 'anywhere you are' music service. You go home, you power up through your TV and from your stereo, you access the music that you downloaded to your PC; you go into the car and you plug in a device; or you carry the device with you. In the future you can get access to Napster through the cell phone too."
Napster and Ericsson did not provide details on complicated issues such as revenue sharing with mobile operators and how they will keep costs down for consumers; wireless data plans are still expensive compared to Internet broadband, especially in Europe.
Apple has reportedly been working with Motorola on an iTunes-capable phone, but disagreements with carriers over revenue sharing and pricing has left its future uncertain.