Phone makers jumping into mobile-music market

February 15, 2005|Associated Press

CANNES, France -- With an eye on the success of portable music players, mobile phone makers are going after would-be iPod buyers by building high-quality players into their handsets.

SonyEricsson said yesterday it would soon market music-player mobiles under its parent's Walkman brand, drawing on the music catalog of a sister company, Sony BMG, the world's number two record company.

And Nokia Corp., the world's leading phone maker, formed an alliance with Microsoft Corp. to allow mobile subscribers to load music from a PC onto their phones -- much the way that a digital music player works.

Unlike owners of MP3 players, Nokia users will be able to download tracks directly onto their handsets through the wireless phone network and transfer them to computer for storage or burning onto a CD.

On the first day of the 3GSM World Congress, a major mobile industry gathering, Nokia unveiled a new ''3G" phone with an integrated music player and high-quality stereo output.

''Music is the next big thing in mobile multimedia," said Anssi Vanjoki, head of Nokia's multimedia division.

Mobile phone makers and networks are looking to boost revenue given difficulties finding new customers in saturated markets.

With high-speed 3G networks now widespread, companies like Nokia hope demand for airtime and pricier, more sophisticated phones will be spurred by new features from wireless gaming and instant messaging to pay TV and remote banking services.