Sprint and Samsung are preparing to challenge Apple's trail-blazing iPod and its iTunes music store. Sprint Nextel will offer over-the-air music downloads while Samsung hopes to capitalize on the iPod's relative weakness in the Far East.
Sprint Nextel is launching a new Samsung cell phone equipped with EV-DO, a technology that offers near-broadband speeds.
The Samsung handset features a menu icon for music that leads to a service named "Sprint Music Store" offering downloads for $2.50 a song. The purchase entitles a user to download a copy of the same song to a computer as well.
Of course, Apple and Motorola already offer a cell phone -- the ROKR -- that can play songs from iTunes. But few wireless companies are able to download music over the air. Sales of the ROKR have been disappointing so far, but wireless operators remain optimistic that music phones will generate a lucrative new revenue stream.
How widespread Sprint Nextel's service will be remains to be seen. The company turned on EV-DO service to airports and some downtown business corridors over the summer but coverage is still thought to be quite limited.
Cingular Wireless has also been promising faster wireless connections but has yet to deliver. Verizon Wireless has been offering EV-DO wireless broadband for more than a year, though critics say coverage is spottier than the company admits.
Napster, working with Ericsson, is launching a mobile music service in Europe next year and says it will eventually expand to the U.S.
As for Samsung, beyond providing handsets to Sprint Nextel, it is hoping to roll out its own MP3 music players in China and Southeast Asia, to counter any move by Apple to bring the iPod into those markets.
"We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service program like iTunes of Apple," said Samsung President Choi Gee-sung, at a press conference. "Our items show healthy performances in China and Southeast Asian countries where iTunes services are not provided."
Skeptics noted that music piracy is rife in China and it may be difficult to convert freeloaders into paying customers.
