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Nokia: a 21st century radio?

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Leading cellphone manufacturer Nokia grabbed headlines galore for its deal this week with Universal Music Group to supply a ‘free’ music service to owners of selected Nokia phones next year. I say ‘free’ because Nokia will reportedly pay Universal for the tunes (reportedly $5 per user per month), which means that at least some portion of the cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher phone prices up front. Not that buyers will notice, necessarily; the N-series phones in question are pricey even without the music.

Anyway, much of the coverage of the announcement struck me as wrong-headed, for two reasons. First off, this isn’t about giving away music. Nokia’s offer is like a subscription music service, only without the ability to stream songs from an online jukebox. Users download tracks that are locked to their phone or PC, making them wasted bits the moment those devices go out of service. The service may prove to be entertaining, but it won’t work for anybody looking to build a collection.

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Second, the attention paid to the Universal announcement obscured two others from Nokia: its plans to integrate Internet radio into some phones, and its acquisition of Avvenu. The former initiative makes it easier to do something smartphones can already do, so it’s not game-changing. But the latter company’s software enables something new: tapping into the files stored on one’s home or office PC via the Web. I’ve written about Avvenu before because it provides a nifty way to access a digital music collection remotely. Its software could give Nokia’s phones a capability not found in other companies’ mobiles: the chance to listen to any song on your PC for free*, wherever you happened to be. Now that’s a killer app.

*Provided, of course, that you subscribe to an unlimited mobile data plan.

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