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By Antony Bruno
DENVER (Billboard) - The 2007 mobile music market could be
summed up in one phrase: "It's the device, stupid."
And though no mobile music service or associated innovation
gained even a fraction of the attention that Apple did by
unveiling the iPhone, that story certainly helped shine a
spotlight on other mobile music developments, if only by means
of comparison. And believe it or not, there were other
milestones in mobile music throughout the year.
AT&T finally joined competitors Sprint and Verizon Wireless
by launching its own full-song music download services. Its
strategy is one of partnership, tapping eMusic and Napster to
create mobile versions of their digital music services so users
can buy individual tracks or track bundles directly from their
phones. The operator also became the exclusive U.S. provider of
the iPhone, which sold more than 1 million units in less than
three months.
Rhapsody got into the mobile game as well. After absorbing
MTV's Urge, the company struck a deal with Verizon Wireless
that made Rhapsody the exclusive platform to deliver tracks
purchased from the VCast Music service. Through time, Rhapsody
and Napster hope to apply a wireless all-you-can-eat
subscription model to their plans.
Trying to Ring In Sales
This year also saw a resumed push on ringtones, with
operators spending big bucks on exclusive deals with big-name
acts in hopes of goosing a stalling market. Verizon led the
way, landing such big-ticket names as AC/DC, Bob Marley and Led
Zeppelin. AT&T landed a few punches as well, ending the year
with exclusives from Dave Matthews Band and Matchbox Twenty.
But from its initial flashy unveiling to the lines of
people camping out for a device that didn't even sell out, to
the inevitable backlash when Apple cut the price by $200 just
70 days after it went on sale for $600, the iPhone dominated
every mobile music discussion. And it will continue to do so
for months to come.
Meanwhile, other handset manufacturers are now pulling out
the stops:
* NOKIA N95: The N95, Nokia's flagship smart phone,
supports MP3, WMA, RealAudio and several other digital music
formats, and also contains an FM radio tuner. Its Bluetooth
feature enables audio to stream to other speakers, it can
access the Internet through built-in Wi-Fi, and European models
feature Nokia's new Ovi digital entertainment service and music
store, and an 8 GB internal flash storage capacity. No U.S.
carriers sell the device yet, but U.S. fans can get an unlocked
version directly from Nokia.
* HTC Touch: A full-screen, touch-navigation wireless phone
that runs Windows Mobile version 6, the Touch features HTC's
TouchFLO interface. Sprint offers the product exclusively in
the United States. The Touch features direct access to the
Sprint Music Store, as well as video services, Outlook e-mail
and streaming radio stations. A microSD card slot offers up to
4 GB of removable memory.
* LG Voyager: Known in Europe as the Prada phone because of
a branding relationship there, the new Voyager from LG one-ups
the competition by featuring two screens—a 2.8-inch
touch-screen display on the face and a smaller screen when
flipped open above a Qwerty keyboard. It plays MP3, WMA, AAC
and all other digital music formats. A microSD card slot
supports up to 8 GB of memory. It's available exclusively via
Verizon and supports all the operator's VCast multimedia
services.
* Samsung F700: The Ultra Smart-branded multimedia phone
features a touch-screen interface and a full Qwerty slide-out
keyboard. It uses a drag-and-drop navigation feature that makes
it easier to search for specific content, like music. It lacks
any significant onboard memory, but has a microSD memory slot
for up to 4 GB. Rumored to be coming to Verizon this Christmas
under the name U940.
* Sony Ericsson W960: The W960 is the Walkman version of a
touch-screen phone but with a normal dialing keypad. The 8 GB
device has a 2.8-inch display, 3.2 megapixel camera and Wi-Fi
for Web browsing. It supports MP3 and AAC. An optional charger
desk stand includes speakers. Not yet available in the United
States.
Top-Selling Music-Enabled Mobile Phones
1. LG VX8300 (above)
2. Samsung SGH A707
3. Motorola RAZR V3M Silver
4. Apple iPhone, 8 GB
5. Motorola KRZR K1M
(Source: NPD Group, through the end of third-quarter 2007)
Reuters/Billboard
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