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Nokia to Revive Comes With Music with a Carrier Deal

On 5800 for the UK mobile phone users

May 12, 2009 15:21 GMT  ·  By
Nokia to intro 5800 Comes With Music in the UK through a carrier
   Nokia to intro 5800 Comes With Music in the UK through a carrier

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is reported to plan inking a deal with a UK carrier for its Comes With Music service, so as to revive it, since it has seen so little traction from the users in the country, though it has enjoyed a great advertising campaign. Moreover, it seems that the company might soon announce an operator deal and a retailer partnership for its 5800 mobile phone, its first touchscreen device that was welcome with tremendous popularity on the market.

According to Mobiletoday.co.uk, the deals Nokia would plan on making would involve Carphone Warehouse and Orange, although Vodafone could be another possibility as well, given the fact that the carrier is looking for a deal as such to allow it to boost sales, and a partnership for offering Comes With Music on the 5800 could prove to be a winning one, both for the operator and for the unlimited music service.

Up until now, Nokia hasn't unveiled any details on the number of subscribers its Comes With Music service accounts for, although there have been many voices saying that those numbers have been rather low. According to Music Ally, only 23,000 users were attracted to Nokia's Comes With Music in the UK, while the main problem the service faces would be the DRM-protected tracks.

Unfortunately for Comes With Music, it was launched in the country last year on the 5310, and the device was not able to provide users with a satisfactory experience. At the same time, the handset was only available with Carphone Warehouse, as no carrier was willing to take it; it seems that this affected the sales and the popularity of the service as well.

Nokia chief executive officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo stated back in April that the 5800 XpressMusic, in combination with Comes With Music, had turned into one of the most successful phones of the company, as it had managed to ship more than 2.6 million units during the first quarter of the year, which means that the handset might as well help the service gain more popularity in the UK if offered on the touchscreen 5800.