Sprint announced a full-scale launch of its EV-DO wireless network, including the first over-the-air music download store. Customers will pay $2.50 for two copies of each track: one version formatted for cell phones, and another designed to be played on a computer. Two phones made by Sanyo and Samsung currently support the service.
The Samsung handset also featured a menu icon for music that leads to a service named “Sprint Music Store” offering downloads from a wide array of genres for $2.50 per song. The purchase entitles a user to download a copy of the same song to a computer as well.
There already are a growing number of phones that can store and play music - most notably the ROKR handset introduced last month by Motorola and Apple for songs downloaded to a computer from Apple’s popular iTunes store. But only a few overseas cellular operators have launched services where the music can be delivered directly to a handset over the air.b
The Sprint Music Store operates on the EV-DO Network and is now available using two new multimedia phones also announced today; the MM-9000 by SANYO ($379.99 or $229.99 after rebate) and the MM-A940 by Samsung ($399.99 or $249.99 after rebate). When on the Sprint Power Vision Network, customers can download a full-length song in as little as 30 seconds.
Earlier this year, Sprint began deploying its EV-DO Power Vision Network, focusing on airports and business districts first. Sprint offers two data cards; the Aircard 580 and Merwin S620 (from $250-free), along with the PPC-6700 ($450), a Pocket PC phone featuring Windows Mobile 5.0. All three devices use Sprint’s EV-DO network.
Novatel’s HSDPA PC Data Card, used on Cingular’s service, allows carriers to launch it as either a UMTS/EDGE PC card, Web-upgradeable to HSDPA over the Internet, or as an HSDPA product, depending on their network deployment strategy.
By mid November, the Sprint Power Vision Network is expected to be available to an estimated 130 million people nationwide, and is expected to reach over 150 million people by early 2006.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group PLC, began rolling out its EV-DO service about one year ago and now offers it across 61 metropolitan areas.
Cingular, a joint venture between SBC and BellSouth, provides high-speed wireless access across six metropolitan areas using HSDPA, but has said the “UMTS” service will be available in between 15 and 20 markets by year-end.
Motorola’s ROKR phone must download music to a computer first, then transfer tunes. The Motorola ROKR (pronounced “Rocker”) pauses music automatically when users take a call and offers the ability to listen to music while checking messages or snapping a photo.Samsung, a supplier of phones for Sprint’s music store, also announced it will be a competitor to Apple, launching its own music store. Samsung’s market share is bigger than Apple’s in Asian countries but the iTunes service is not offered in the region, except in Japan. It will be based on Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM platform. Samsung is the world’s second-largest semiconductor maker after Intel.
Meanwhile, Apple has sold more than one million videos on its iTunes® Music Store.
