Everyone wants a piece of the digital music market, currently dominated by Apple’s iTunes. Nokia recently acquired Loudeye and I believe we can expect to see Nokia’s fingers entering this (very) lucrative market. Also, by being one of the major labels company, Sony is certainly an important “player” in this market. They’ve already had some failed attempts to create an online music store.
Sony Ericsson announced that they plan to further to develop its PlayNow service, currently used for downloading ringtones and games.
Apparently, Ericsson already provides the backend technology that lets carriers power their own download music services, and the joint venture with Sony was so far successful.
The brand (Walkman) is there, the infrastructure, a major label company (Sony BMG)… smells like a great opportunity. All we can do is sit and watch the digital music wars.