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Nokia has a music store, albeit only in the UK right now. Sony Ericsson will be launching Play Now Arena in the first half of next year. Now Microsoft has just purchased Musiwave for an undisclosed sum, giving them a foot in the content delivery business. Musiwave wasn’t a very profitable company, but they did have relationships with over 30 operators world wide. They offer not only full music tracks, but ringbacks, ringtones and anything else a 14 year old would spend their allowance money on to make your life a living hell. Looking at the trend it is becoming increasingly obvious that makers of devices and mobile operating systems have come to the realization that in order to grow they need to expand past their core business models.
Microsoft makes money every time you purchase one of their devices, period. Same can currently be said about Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Changing that paradigm of single point of purchase to continues revenue generator is going to be a dangerous and risky walk across a tight rope. The power of the operators is diminishing, no doubt about that, but they still hold the reins of control.
[Via: Networld World]
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
