James Delahunty
15 Feb 2006 1:02
It must come as somewhat of a small blow to Apple Computer Inc. that Motorola has announced it will soon offer a line up of music phones that are compatible with Windows Media DRM technology. Until now, Motorola made phones that were iTunes compatible only, such as the disappointing ROKR that was released alongside the iPod Nano last year or the slightly better SLVR handset. The one thing that both these models still lack however, is the ability to download music "over the air".
According to Motorola, this functionality will be available with its line-up of Windows Media based phones, which the company has stated will remain separate from the iTunes phone products. Operators would prefer that a music phone would feature over the air downloads as that would entitle them to a cut of the music sales. The downside of this delivery method is the cost.
The cost is possibly the reason why Apple didn't rush to support this method of music delivery to the iTunes phones released by Motorola. The question is whether or not consumers will buy enough songs through this delivery method, if they are in fact cheaper to get using a PC and Internet connection. Still though, music phones are just evolving so it is indeed time to take risks now.
Source:
Reg Hardware