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Business News Digital
Nokia say they’re happy with Comes With Music performance, OK?
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 23 April 2009
Yeah, Nokia’s Comes With Music has sounded a bit rubbish from the word go, though the fact the phone firm have the most useless PR function in the world may have affected our opinion on that. Though I’m not sure better PR would have, in itself, overcome the rubbishness alone.
Anyway, the phone maker has declined to comment on claims made by digital music consultants Music Ally at AIM’s Music Connected event on Tuesday that Comes With Music, the all you can eat music service where free access to a huge catalogue of DRMed music comes bundled in with a Nokia music phone, wasn’t performing as well as the company had hoped. Music Ally claimed that, despite a big advertising and marketing campaign around its UK launch last year, the service had only been bought by 23,000 people so far.
As previously reported, critics of the service say that while Comes With Music in theory offers unlimited permanent free downloads, the DRM means songs will only play on the phone or PC they are downloaded too. Launching as it did just as a la carte download services got rid of limiting digital rights management, that fact, some say, makes Nokia’s offer a bit unattractive. Though, Nokia might point out, not to 23,000 paying customers.
It was claimed at Music Connected that Nokia were disappointed with consumer response to their big music offer, having hoped it would seriously challenge the iPhone in the mobile music space. But Nokia, while refusing to confirm or deny Music Ally’s stats, say they are “very happy” with their music programme and will continue to roll out the all you can eat download offer in other territories. When discussing a recent slump in profits at the phone maker, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo cited the firm’s music products as one of their more successful ventures of late.
