Clock ticking on Comes with Music

Nokia Corp.’s ambitious new mobile music service is just weeks away from making its debut. But the Finnish phone maker has plenty of work left to do before Comes With Music comes to market.
The offering – which essentially packages one year of unlimited downloads with a new phone – is slated to appear in the United Kingdom in the next month or so, hitting shelves just in time for the holiday season.
There’s a lot to like about Comes With Music, especially given the lack of traction most mobile music services have seen. Unlike other all-you-can-download services, Nokia is allowing users to keep their tunes after the first year whether they re-up (by paying a monthly fee), buy a new phone or simply opt to stop downloading. And the deal with The Carphone Warehouse ensures a nationwide retail footprint of more than 800 stores.
But there are also some glaring shortcomings surrounding the new service. The company has inked deals with only three of the four major labels – EMI has yet to come to terms – and no U.K. independent label is under contract. Nokia’s library of 2.1 million songs may sound impressive, but the portfolio pales in comparison to the 8-million-song collection available through Apple Inc.’s iTunes.
More important, though, is the possibility that the full-track download service may launch without an operator partner. Carriers thus far have kept Comes With Music at arm’s length, lest the new offering cannibalize operator-branded download services. (And if you think maybe you’ve heard this song before, you have.) Not only will customers have to put their existing SIM cards into the phone, they’ll have to pay a premium for an unsubsidized – and decidedly unsexy – device. And because the Nokia 5310 doesn’t support Wi-Fi or even 3G, users with pay-as-you-go plans may find over-the-air downloads surprisingly expensive.
We’ve been impressed with Nokia’s aggressive moves into the mobile content and advertising waters, and packaging music with hardware may be a key step in tapping the mobile music revenues that remain so elusive. Comes With Music’s U.K. service is unlikely to find a broad audience, though, unless Nokia can bulk up its library of tunes and strike a deal with at least one carrier partner. And the clock is ticking.