March 4, 2005
Fine-tuning the music strategy
Sharpshooting phones are passé. Music is the new imaging, as far as the mobile industry is concerned. Senior tech journalist, Aloysius Choog reports for c/net Asia in a must-read report to understand where the cell-phone-music industry is heading.
"The industry has suddenly decided that music is the new buzzword. Its time has come.
Some issues to be adressed:
-- First, many people will probably want their downloaded songs to outlive their cell phones, the latter typically dumped after one to two years. As customers switch from a Nokia to a Motorola, for example, they will want to bring their complete song libraries with them.
-- Also, mobile phone companies have been pushing for years to make it easier for consumers to own multiple handsets. This is a cornerstone of many product strategies, such as fashion phones, and an outlet for growth in mature markets. If you have a Samsung for play and a Sony Ericsson for work, you shouldn't have to pay twice to have the same song on them.
-- Furthermore, incredulous as it sounds, peer-to-peer file-sharing can actually be big money on cell phones. Version 2.0 of the Open Mobile Alliance's (OMA) open DRM standard, will support something called super-distribution, where DRM-protected content can be properly shared between handsets. To put it in practical terms, if you send your favorite song to a friend via mobile, he gets the option to purchase it.
With such considerations in mind, it is gratifying to note that underneath Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson's headline-grabbing tie-ups with Microsoft, Apple and Sony, the handset makers are all supporting the OMA's open DRM standard. "
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