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]