14 DAY TRIAL // Napster announced that its over-the-air music subscription download service has been launched in Japan with NTT DoCoMo. Napster Mobile is now available across the entire line of DoCoMo's 904i series handsets, including new Napster-compatible products produced by Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic and Sharp.
The launch in Japan marks the first deployment of the Napster Mobile music service that unifies the over-the-air service with the PC-based Napster To Go service, giving customers both wireless and Internet music download capabilities for a single subscription price. Also a first for Napster, is the facility offered to DoCoMo's subscribers to integrate the wireless music subscription service into their mobile phone bill. Owners of 904i series handsets can subscribe to the service directly from their cell phones and select integrated billing when registering for the service.
"We are very pleased by the progress of Napster Mobile among carriers and handset manufacturers globally. Industry analysts project a dramatic increase in the number of music-enabled-mobile phones available globally, and we are seeing that the large majority of these phones, representing hundreds of millions of handsets, will be Napster compatible," said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of Napster. "Napster is uniquely positioned to offer carriers a turnkey, branded music solution which should provide the company with a substantial new growth opportunity."
With the addition of the new over-the-air music download service, Napster's subscriber base in Japan (including those with subscriptions for ringtones, full-length downloads and unlimited over-the-air downloads), has outnumbered the PC-only subscribers in Japan. The Japan launch brings the total number of mobile carriers offering Napster Mobile to nine. The service is currently available via carriers across Asia, the United States and Europe, including DoCoMo and KDDI in Japan, AT&T, Dobson and SunCom in the U.S., TMN in Portugal, O2 in Ireland, Swisscom in Switzerland, and Claro in Puerto Rico.