Ericsson and Napster together with Italian operator, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), are to offer Napster Mobile, a music service co-developed by Ericsson and Napster.
Napster Mobile is a premium music service offering an array of features and personalized content, including ringtones, artist images, wallpaper and access to Napster Mobile's catalog of more than 5 million songs. Napster Mobile also offers dual-delivery for simultaneous downloads to a subscriber's PC and mobile phone, a unique feature that provides users the convenience of downloading songs directly to their phones with a high-fidelity copy of the song available to download on their PCs.
Under the agreement, Ericsson's responsibilities include systems integration, operation, maintenance and content management of Napster Mobile for TIM. The service is available now.
"We are proud to be the first in Italy to offer the world-class music service Napster Mobile", said Riccardo Jelmini, Mobile VAS Marketing Manager, Telecom Italia. "Ericsson's solution allows us a quick, cost-efficient and simple way to launch this service, which gives our customers easy access to first-rate, feature-rich music services and will also expand our subscriber base".
"Entering the Italian market is an exciting milestone", said Brad Duea, president of Napster. "By partnering with Ericsson we can offer a superior music experience and make our extensive catalog available to Italian consumers for the first time".
"The marriage of Napster's innovative music service and Ericsson's technological leadership and operational expertise helps operators bring attractive new services to market easily and cost-effectively", said Cesare Avenia, President, Ericsson Italy.
Napster Mobile is linked to the Sony Ericsson Walkman series mobile phones via its music recognition application. Some models also offer a soft-key on the display for convenient access to Napster Mobile.