Cingular might not team with Apple for the iPhone
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One of the rumors stuck to Apple iPhone is its eventual partnership with Cingular or T-Mobile. Such a deal would allow the iPod company to enter the mobile phone market softly, keeping its focus on the VoIP handset and letting its business associate taking care of the MVNO service.
Cingular or T-Mobile? So far, no clue. But the Wall Street Journal, quoting sources ‘familiar with the matter’, might enlighten the rumor and foster speculations: Cingular Wireless would start a new online music service in partnership with several online music services including Napster, Yahoo Music and eMusic.
It’s basically a non-proprietary approach. But the common point of those music download service is that they all rely on Microsoft digital rights management system, called PlaysForSure. That would mean Cingular is siding with Microsoft.
And it’s very odd. As CNet reminds it, last year, Cingular became the exclusive provider for the Motorola Rokr phone, which is the only phone that plays audio tracks purchased from the iTunes Store.
Is Cingular playing a double game? Would this announcement the proof that Cingular won’t get any iPhones in its catalog? Nothing is certain, but it’s very strange, anyway. Becoming the exclusive provider for the iPhone would boost Cingular new subscriptions, as the consumer demand and profit anticipation are very high.
Nov 1, 2006 | By Nuno
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[…] Nokia is another major player that is investing a lot into mobile music, see “Nokia Starts its Big Music Push”. The company acquired LoudEye in August for $60 million, announced a music recommendation service and is working on services for discovering, purchasing and managing mobile music. Then there’s Microsoft, which is launching the connected Zune, but also provides its software for phones like Verizon’s music Vcast service — Steve Ballmer was at Verizon’s music launch event in Vegas — and its digital rights management PlaysForSure. And Sony Ericsson has all those popular Walkman phones. […]