Dec

23

Verizon to Add Mobile Music Download Servie

December 23, 2005 |

According to CNet News, Verizon Wireless is soon going to join the group of cell phone companies adding music downloads to its portfolio. I wrote about this a while ago when Sprint announced its plans. Overall, if well implemented, this is not a bad idea. I can’t see myself using it, but them I am not a large cell-phone user to begin with. There is a teenage crowd out there, though, happy to spring large sums of money and ringtones and they make a nice target audience for this. But, and this is a big but, $2.50 a song is a joke. That’s $25 or more an album and hence about $15 more than I am willing to pay, even if I can get two copies of the song (one for  my PC and one for the phone) - once I buy it, shouldn’t I be allowed to have a copy anywhere I want to… oh… yeah… that’s a whole other discussion.

Here is what CNet had to say about this.

Pricing will also be a critical issue. The Sprint store, which launched in October, charges $2.50 per song, compared to the 99 cent average at iTunes and other PC-based stores. Verizon representatives would not discuss pricing, but documents indicate it is leaning toward Sprint pricing. Like Sprint, the company plans to deliver two copies of each song with every download–one for the phone and one for the PC.

Phone companies and labels have defended that kind of price premium in the past, saying that consumers will pay extra for instant gratification and convenience, as opposed to waiting until a PC is handy. Analysts have said that consumers in the U.S., who are more accustomed to Internet and PC-based services than their Asian and European counterparts, may be more willing to compare the prices directly to those offered by iTunes and other online rivals, however.

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