SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc. became the latest carrier to step onto the full-track download playground, teaming with digital music provider Napster L.L.C. to offer a relatively vast library of 2 million tunes.
SunCom subscribers can download songs to both a PC and a mobile phone for $2 per track. SunCom’s Napster Mobile offering is currently supported by two Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. handsets: the W300 Walkman phone, which retails for $70 with a two-year agreement; and the W810 Walkman, which sells for $200 with a two-year contract.
The announcement makes good on an initiative unveiled by SunCom, Napster and L.M. Ericsson at the 3GSM World Congress trade show in February. Ericsson hosts Napster Mobile, which lost a prime distribution channel with the demise earlier this year of Dijji Corp. Dijji-formerly Dwango Wireless-delivered Napster’s ringtone service for carriers.
“The features available to wireless customers today reach far beyond text messaging and Web browsing to fit an individual’s unique lifestyle,” said Suzanne Lowry, SunCom’s director of product marketing. “More and more customers are looking to mobile phones for music downloading.”
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless remain the only Tier 1 operators to offer full-track downloads, but smaller carriers and even mobile virtual network operators are beginning to deploy such services. Amp’d Mobile Inc. continues to court music lovers aggressively by offering downloads at around $1 each, and Qwest Communications International Inc. began selling tunes through Sprint Nextel’s Groove Mobile-powered mobile music store.
SunCom’s new service is moderately priced between Sprint Nextel’s $2.50-a-song offering and Verizon Wireless’ Vcast Music, which offers $2 mobile downloads and computer downloads for $1.
