August 29, 2007
Nokia set to strike note with iTunes rival
Mobile operators will be watching cautiously on Wednesday when Nokia declares an important strategic shift with the announcement of an online music service intended to rival Apple’s iTunes.
Nokia’s music service will be a new rival for mobile operators’ own music offerings, many of which have failed to gain traction in the market. Most mobile music users simply “sideload” music from their computer direct to their handset.
Nokia’s music site will be based on Loudeye, the US online music company that Nokia bought for $60m last year. Loudeye has a music library of about 1.6m tracks; fewer than the 5m held by iTunes and Napster’s more than 3m.
Nokia has been experimenting with mobile music in a low-key way since last autumn, when it launched a website called Music Recommenders. "
[via FT]
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