Quiet interesting Apple vs operators:
"Most major wireless companies, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint,
have reportedly balked at carrying the iTunes phone Apple has been
codeveloping with Motorola.
According to an international cover story in the April 25th edition of
Business Week, the cell phone carriers, along with Cingular/ATT, have
very different perspectives on how digital music stores should work and
are expected to charge between $2 and $3 for wireless music downloads
when they introduce their services.
"They figure they can charge a premium for the convenience of getting
songs anytime, even though customers most likely won't be able to
listen to those songs anywhere but on their phones, at least
initially," wrote Business Week's Roger Crockett. He cites a source
close to Apple who says wireless operators are "simply being
unrealistic" if they expect customers to pay $2 or $3 for a song,
especially with restrictions.
Instead the operators want customers to download songs over the air,
directly to handsets. But the iTunes phone would allow customers to
download songs to a PC or Mac and then copy them to the phone. "It's
hard for people in any industry to support something that cuts them out
of potential future revenue streams," said Graeme Ferguson, director
for global content development at Vodafone Group PLC. "
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1010
Cheers
Giovanni
Received on Tue Apr 19 17:39:09 2005