VODAFONE, the world’s biggest mobile phone operator, is seeking to challenge the dominance of Apple’s iPod with a music gadget that is “trained” to learn its user’s tastes. The group has teamed up with Sony, the electronics giant, to create Vodafone RadioDJ, a service that streams music to a 3G mobile phone.
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The service, which will be available through a monthly subscription, allows users to create up to ten personalised music channels, which will play different genres of music from jazz to rock. The technology, developed by Sony’s NetServices division, will ensure that the consumer can then fine-tune the music streamed down the phone by hitting “like” or “dislike” according to which tune is played. Pressing “dislike” triggers the system to skip to the next song. The phone, which analyses each song by beat and harmonies as well as by genre and mood, learns to present the user only with tracks suited to his taste.
The songs, which also can be streamed to a PC, will be chosen from a base of hundreds of thousands. Users will also be able to download individual songs at a cost expected to be about €1.50 (£1) a time.
The service, which will be launched in Britain within the next few months before being rolled out in 20 countries globally, marks the first big move by Vodafone into music. It is expected to cost about €10 to €15 a month.
As it seeks to recoup the costs of the third-generation mobile licence, Vodafone, like its rivals, has been sizing up the profitability of various applications and regards music and television as a key driver of future growth.
The operator hopes that its product, which initially will be available on restricted 3G handsets, will have the edge over Apple’s iPod because subscribers will be able to listen to as many songs as they like rather than paying to download each track from iTunes.
According to Vodafone, the new service — unlike the iPod — offers users the chance to discover new bands.
Robert Ashcroft, senior vice-president of Sony Europe, said that the tie-up would “drive Vodafone’s strategy to become a leading global music provider”.
Mobile music is an increasingly competitive sphere. Motorola has teamed up with Apple’s iTunes to allow mobile-users to listen to tracks on the move. Sony Ericsson has produced a Walkman-branded phone.
3, the Hutchison Whampoa- owned operator with more than three million British customers, has carved a niche for itself as a mobile music specialist and has stated its intention to boost revenue growth by becoming the No 1 or No 2 player in 3G mobile music, internet and television. It was the first mobile network in Britain to offer full-length music videos over mobile and showed the world premiere of the Robbie Williams single Misunderstood before it was on television or radio.
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