News
Omnifone launches music service, claims 30 deals in place
Tim Green Jun 14 2007, 11:45am
Omnifone has named Telenor Sweden as the first carrier to roll out its MusicStation all-you-can-eat mobile music service. It claims to have 30 operator deals in place.
The company is touting the Telenor win as a major coup, with Apple’s iPhone still two weeks from launch in the US and months away in Europe. MusicStation is based around a Java app that can turn the vast majority of phones into devices that can stream, download and play full tracks for a fixed weekly subscription (typically around 2.99 euros) including data.
It’s a different approach from the typical operator music service, which makes songs available on a strictly pay-per-download basis. Telenor launched with a weekly subscription price of 25 kronor (€2.67; US$3.55).
MusicStation will be embedded by participating operators in devices – Omnifone predicts an addressable handset base of 100 million within 12 months.
It has the backing of all major music labels and many indies. Over one million tracks will be available. Omnifone has also developed a proprietary DRM, which allows consumers to keep a track until they stop subscribing.
It should be a busy year for Omnifone, with roll outs promised in the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and elsewhere.
Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone, said: “There are lots of pay per download services out there and they’re not doing well enough to get on the operator CEOs’ radars. Our approach of unlimited music for a fixed fee has to be the way forward. We’re looking forward to a very exciting 12 months.”
