Nokia has announced that it wants to be a “global leader in mobile music experiences.” To that end, the company has been sliding into place a number of key building blocks to turn that wish into a reality. Music capability has become a key feature of nearly all of Nokia’s mid- to high-tier mobile devices. In particular the 6233, 6280 and the N-series have strong digital music functionality.
Jake Saunders, ABI Research’s Asia-Pacific research director, comments, “To become a global leader in mobile music, Nokia needs to move onto the hallowed turf dominated by Apple’s iPod.” Apple’s dominance of the portable music experience stems not just from the iPod’s functionality, ease of use, and cool design, but also its tight integration with the music delivery platform, iTunes. In many respects the iTunes brand is as robust and well appreciated as the iPod device.
Hence Nokia’s bold move to acquire, Loudeye, the Seattle-based music delivery platform vendor, for US$60 million. But why the haste and the enthusiasm? You don’t have to wander into too many mobile phone stores to realize that 2006 is proving to be very kind to mobile device manufacturers. The third and fourth quarters always build on the first half of the year. ABI Research forecasts that handset shipments will clear one billion in 2006.
Principal analyst Stuart Carlaw adds, “The Loudeye acquisition is intended to assist Nokia in strengthening its position in the music market’s premium, heavy duty user categories: consumers who typically purchase multi-purpose and dedicated music player mobile devices.” ABI Research estimates that these two categories will represent more than 125 million annual shipments by 2009.
Will Nokia succeed? It would be unwise to underestimate the market leader in mobile phones. Nevertheless iPod/iTunes has a very well-entrenched position, and Microsoft is about to up the ante with its new Zune device and music delivery platform.
ABI Research’s own research shows that end-users currently prefer dedicated music players. Over time however, music-capable mobile phones will become increasingly pervasive. ABI Research estimates that by 2009 seven out of ten music-capable devices will be multipurpose mobile devices rather than music-only devices.
Technorati : Mobile, Mobile Music, Nokia
Ice Rocket : Mobile, Mobile Music, Nokia