Nokia has announced that it will launch its much-touted Comes With Music service here in the UK next month, meaning we will be the first in the world to be able to access the all-you-can-eat digital music offering. Lucky us.
As much previously reported, Nokia Comes With Music phones will, well, come with music. That is to say, they will come with a one year subscription to a Nokia-run download platform (accessible via phone or PC) which will give users free access to over 2 million songs coming from the Universal, Sony and Warner catalogues.
Although the phone's owner will only have a year's access, any tracks they download in that time will be DRM-free and therefore will still work even after the subscription has lapsed. This distinguishes Comes With Music from other subscription services like Napster where tracks only continue to work for as long as a user pays their monthly subscription fees.
The business model behind Comes With Music - ie how much Nokia pays the record companies, and whether that is covered by the cost of the phone - is unclear. Presumably the whole thing is based on the principle that most users won't immediately download all two million songs, but rather they will only have the time and brain space to download a relatively small amount of tracks each month. It's probably a sound principle, though it's a bit of a gamble nevertheless.
There has been much speculation that Nokia plan to make a loss with Comes With Music, but are doing so in a bid to become a market leader in the mobile music sector, which many people are still convinced is where the serious money will be in the future. Nokia have denied that they are taking a hit with Comes With Music and it is possible the likes of Universal have offered the phone firm very generous terms given the major is generally willing to support any company who has a chance of breaking Apple's hold over the digital music market.
Nokia does not, however, deny its ambitions to become a leading provider of mobile music services, which is possibly why no UK mobile network will be officially selling the Comes With Music phones - they would prefer music fans use their own music services rather than those provided by a handset manufacturer. The failure of Nokia to do a deal with any one tel co means they are taking an even greater risk with Comes With Music, but it does mean they are network agnostic, widening the potential consumer base for the service. As I understand it you can put a sim card from any mobile network into a Comes With Music phone and they'll work.
Carphone Warehouse is, however, on board as a partner and they will be pushing the new phone-music-service-combo big time in the run up to Christmas.
Commenting on the service, Nokia UK MD Simon Ainslie told reporters: "This is a unique proposition. Nobody has launched an unlimited music service that allows you to keep your music with no catches. What we are trying to do is bring back some value to the music industry from people who are not paying for music. There are a lot of parents who would like to legitimise their children's purchasing of music".
The service is expected to launch in the UK next month, to be rolled out in the rest of Europe next year.