It’s often said that ‘Good things come in small packages’ and the little-known carrier Cricket Wireless is a case in point. A relatively low-profile player with limited reach and best known for its prepaid phones, Cricket is all set to launch a new service called Muve Music that includes unlimited music downloads as part of a $55 monthly cell phone plan that also includes unlimited talk, text and Web.
It’s a bold move for a small carrier. But then, Cricket has a history of launching several first-of-its-kind offerings including the first ever unlimited wireless rate plan. From a carrier perspective, this isn’t the first attempt at bundling a music subscription into a wireless rate plan; better-known players have tried it and failed miserably.
As an avid music lover, I’m game for such plans and I hope that the Canadian wireless fraternity is watching.
“Muve Music” is expected to be launched at CES, 2011 and promises to offer the “first music experience designed specifically for the mobile phone.” The collection includes tracks from all major labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, EMI and others. Muve offers a number of “unlimiteds” including calls, text, picture & video messaging, web, email, data backup, full track downloads, ringtones and ringback tones. There is no download fee and no monthly music subscription.
The Muve service will initially be available only on a single device – Android-based Samsung Suede ($199) and is expected to be available on other devices in the latter half of 2011. With a 3-inch touch screen, a dedicated music button and pretty much nothing else to write about, the Suede can at best be labeled as a “poor man’s smartphone”.
The USP of Muve Music service is that it does not require a computer to access/ transfer the music to your phone. The tracks, encoded with a new Dolby PCM codec are downloaded to your Suede device and reside on the 4GB Sandisk encrypted flash memory card which takes care of the privacy aspect. The Suede can hold nearly 3,000 songs, which can only be played on the phone though the phone can connect to car, a stereo or external speakers over Bluetooth or via a 3.5-millimeter cable.
With Muve, Cricket aims to curb music privacy and provide a legitimate alternative to its young subscriber base. The service is social-media friendly and provides integration with leading social networks, music sharing and Shazam music recognition. The service even lets you send links to songs using text messages.
Cricket top management believes “Nobody has done mobile music right” and Muve aims to gain a substantial early-mover advantage in the “unlimited music” space.
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Written by: Gaurav Kheterpal. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS>, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >
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