OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. tomorrow will become the third tier-one wireless carrier to launch a mobile music offering, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, with a service that will allow users to “side load” tunes from partners Napster, Yahoo Music and eMusic. Sprint Nextel Corp. became the first operator to launch a full-track, over-the-air download service last year; Verizon Wireless followed suit a few months later.
Unlike its competitors’ offerings—which feature “dual download” functionality allowing users to have songs delivered to their phone as well as their PC—Cingular will not offer over-the-air capability at launch, according to the report. The operator is scheduled to add the feature next year.
On the same day of the news of Cingular’s plans, Sprint Nextel trumpeted the first anniversary of its full-track music download offering. The carrier noted users have downloaded more than 8 million tunes in the last year through Sprint Nextel’s music store as the service’s portfolio has grown to more than a half billion songs. The operator also unveiled “leaked” songs from artists Akon, Fat Joe and Pretty Ricky that will be offered to Sprint Nextel subscribers before being released to the public.
While both Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless claim their music services are gaining traction, it’s unclear how lucrative the full-track mobile music space can be. Sprint Nextel charges $2.50 for a wireless song, and Verizon Wireless offers mobile downloads at $2 a tune, but whether most consumers are interested in paying such a premium to access songs through their handsets remains to be seen. Most online music stores sell songs for a dollar or less.
