MusicStation launches all you can eat music service
Rating: a gift from the gods for operators
By Annie Turner
The all you can eat music service from Omnifone we wrote about here on 12th February is going live today. Omnifone allows consumers to download an unlimited number of tracks to their mobile phones for a small weekly fee from wherever they are will launch in Sweden today.
British firm Omnifone has signed deals with Sony/BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI Group, among others, in the industry and agreements with 30 mobile operators
There is much talk about MusicStation being in a race to steal Apple’s i-Phone thunder, but this both simplistic and inaccurate, if good for headlines. For one thing, according to Omnifone’s CEO Rob Lewis, who I’ve know for years, it has taken four years to get all the negotiations and technology in place, way before anyone had heard of the iPhone, indeed the iPod was not then such a big phenomenon.
Secondly, Apple’s initial launch is with one carrier in the US on 2.5G, whereas MusicStation is being rolled out everywhere but the US over the next few weeks and works on all music-enabled phones, both 2.5 and 3G phones.
Thirdly, it will offer unlimited track downloads at EUR 2.99 per week, or GBP 1.99 in Britain, which includes data traffic charges, by agreement with the operators, whereas the operators have got their knickers in a twist over iPhone because in that high-handed way it has (bearing in mind that I’m an Apple fan myself), Apple intends to sell music for the iPhone via its iTunes’ website, bypassing mobile carriers.
Finally, let’s hope the iPhone is easier to use and crashes less often that its supposed touch-screen rival launched by HTC last week.
Apart from the undoubted clout of Apple’s slinky designs and brand, I can’t see why people wouldn’t prefer to use MusicStation – but maybe not every week?
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