Apple is likely going to face a tough rival with the British mobile phone company Omnifone being one of the first to bring an unlimited music download service to mobile phones with the launch of MusicStation. Unlike services that charge quite a hefty fee for a ringtone, which is effectively just a 10 second clip of a song, MusicStation will offer an unlimited amount of full tracks for a weekly fee of £1.99 (~$3.89), €2.99 in Europe or about half the price of the Napster's To Go service.
The service will initially be available in Europe, but already has deals with 23 mobile networks around the world to bring the service to networks covering 40 countries. With Apple's iPhone not due until June, this also gives MusicStation and other potential rivals a way to compete with Apple in the mean time. The service can work over 2.5G (such as GPRS) and 3G networks and will work with a wide range of mobile phones. Anther problem with the iPhone is that it looks like consumers will have to purchase their music from iTunes on a PC before they can transfer them to the iPhone.
Unlike most online music stores, such as iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and so on, MusicStation is not dependant on a computer, broadband connection, never mind a credit card. Instead, the cost is charged directly on the subscriber's bill, making it very straight forward to avail of the service as long as the subscriber has a compatible handset and is using a mobile phone network where MusicStation is available on.
In order to make it easier to change handsets, MusicStation stores a log of all the downloaded music, such that if the subscriber replaces their phone, they can easily download a copy of all the music they originally hand on their last handset. The service expects to offer a library averaging around 1.2 million tracks per country from major labels and like other unlimited subscription services; consumers can play their downloaded music until they terminate their subscription.
From what I can see, assuming it is simple to browse the online catalogue and music can be downloaded fairly quickly, this will be a potential iPod killer rather than just a rival to the iPhone. For example, consumers can download tracks using their handset the moment they hear an interesting song on the radio or hear about an album. Also, there would be no longer the need to carry an extra player if the phone doubles up as one.
On the other hand the drawback with using a phone as an MP3 player is that when the battery wears down, not only does one get stuck in silence, but they may not be able to make or receive any calls, unless the music software has ability to prevent the battery from falling below a certain threshold level. Also, consumers may not be able to transfer music to their PC or any standalone players.
