At this year’s 3GSM conference, where the growth of mobile communication is highlighted, the majority of the discussion focuses on the ability for mobile phones to play digital music.
A number of companies attending the conference took the opportunity to show off upcoming phones that will be music capable; as were agreements between companies that would give certain mobile handsets the ability to play music. Many of these partnerships allow the phone developers to install third party media software, thus transforming a handset into a portable digital music player.
The Boston Globe features a summary write-up of a cross-section of the agreements and innovations coming from 3GSM
Sony Ericsson said yesterday it would soon market music-player mobiles under its parent’s Walkman brand, drawing on the music catalog of a sister company, Sony BMG, the world’s number two record company.
And Nokia Corp., the world’s leading phone maker, formed an alliance with Microsoft Corp. to allow mobile subscribers to load music from a PC onto their phones — much the way that a digital music player works.
Nokia users will also be allowed to download songs directly to their handsets, a feature many mp3 players lack. Simply speaking, there doesn’t have to be a bridge (computer) between the service and the player.
Another aspect of Nokia’s agreement with Microsoft deals with the installation of the Windows Media Player. This will give Nokia phones featuring Windows software the ability to play .wma files (the Windows media extension). A quote from Anssi Vanjoki, head of Nokia’s multimedia division, revealed the thinking behind these developments:
“Music is the next big thing in mobile multimedia.”
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest search news.
