Sony-Ericsson Teams With Napster For Mobile Music Download Service

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=28960&category=software' target='_blank'>http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=28960&category=software</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The brand of Napster is so recognized and so strong on the Internet that it would open up a big market on the mobile phone," Said Hans Vestberg, executive vice president for Ericsson's Global Services. "And as we see right now, more and more mobile phones are coming out with MP3 players."</i><br /><br />I'm telling you guys, Bill Gates is right...the cell phone trumps everything. As hardware improves (we still a have a ways to go on that front), software improves, and the delivery conduit expands, mobile music will become the "next big thing". In that market Microsoft could have the edge with its Windows Media Player. Unfortunately for Microsoft, they don't have the hardware to back it up. Windows Mobile based Smartphones are too costly for mainstream consumers, so that means the smart money is on Nokia (Symbian), and Sony-Ericsson.

[freitasm]

It is actually Ericsson, not Sony Ericsson (these are two distinct companies).

Ericsson makes mobile phones (so does Sony Ericsson), but it also makes telco infrastructure - in this case they want to provide mobile operators with the necessary infrastructure to sell media over cellular and fixed networks.