Napster goes Euro with O2 deal

LOS ANGELES-Napster’s mobile offering will make its European debut later this month.
The digital music service said O2 Ireland will offer Napster’s catalog of 3 million full-length songs, artist images and ringtones to its 1.6 million subscribers. The application includes search, browse, preview and recommendation features, and will be embedded on O2 handsets running i-Mode, NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s mobile Internet platform.
Ericsson will host, integrate and manage the service.
Napster gained substantial traction as a peer-to-peer file-sharing portal until a court order shut down the operation in 2001. The business was subsequently acquired by Roxio Inc., which offers a subscription-based, full-track service for both PC users and mobile consumers.
The company’s carrier partners include Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and NTT DoCoMo, and Napster plans to launch a WAP portal for off-deck users early next year. Portuguese operator TMN also has committed to launching Napster Mobile.
“Music is an important area for telecom operators, and now Napster Mobile service with i-Mode functionality opens up possibilities for other i-Mode operations,” said John Hennessy of Ericsson Ireland. “We believe that O2 Ireland’s subscribers will find this a very attractive service to use.”