An announcement today by Sony Ericsson reveals the signing of an international strategic partnership with Omnifone to launch its new music service called PlayNow Plus. The service will power a wide range of music phones with unlimited music download while on the go.
“Omnifone was the clear partner of choice for PlayNow(TM) plus. As the leading independent provider of unlimited music services, Omnifone has enabled us to deliver the most innovative and attractive solution for our operator partners and end-users,” remarked Martin Blomkvist, Director and Head of Global Content Acquisition & Partner Management, Sony Ericsson.
Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone additionally mentioned, “Omnifone’s partnership with Sony Ericsson for PlayNow(TM) plus will drive global mass market uptake of legal unlimited digital music downloads on mobile.”
The PlayNow Plus service is expected to be available only through select telecom operators and will give users access to unlimited download. Users can keep up to 100 DRM free songs for each 6 months of their PlayNow contract and can acquire up to 300 songs at the end of their 6-18 month contract.
Users can additionally download music effortlessly to their computer using the music service as it is easily synchronises with the PC with the PlayNow Plus Desktop attribute. State of the art high quality eAAC Plus format ensures downloads are pretty fast. The music service is additionally incorporated with Ericsson’s TrackID(TM) music recognition service enabling unlimited direct-to-device music sampling and downloading for no additional cost.
The launch of this music service is being seen as Sony Ericsson’s attempt at making business beyond the sale of handsets. The new service will compete with Nokia’s Come With Music services.
The PlayNow Plus music service is expected to debut in Sweden via Telenor later this year.