[Sweden] The much – perhaps justifiably – hyped music streaming service Spotify has extended its mobile reach significantly today with the release of an app for phones powered by the Nokia-led Symbian operating system.
This follows earlier clients for both iPhone and Android and means that the service will now be accessible on millions more handsets from Nokia, obviously, along with Sony Ericsson and Samsung which also support the platform.
Phones powered by Symbian far outstrip the iPhone and Android (for now) in Europe where Spotify is currently available. Today’s release should see the company strike further carrier deals or at least extend their current offering with mobile network 3, leading to more ‘back door’ or ‘feels like free’ premium subscriptions.
Just as with the previous iPhone and Android versions, users must be Spotify premium subscribers to use the service on their mobile phones. In return they get to ditch the ads and can cache play-lists for off-line (out of signal) coverage and to conserve battery life.
On-demand music on-the-go is a compelling proposition and Spotify is betting that its mobile offerings will drive uptake for premium subscriptions. But there is also another play at hand. Deals with mobile carriers, such as the one reached with Hutchison’s 3UK in which customers get a Spotify subscription and compatible handset as part of their mobile (24 month) contract.
symbian sucks. now it just the game of android and iPhone. try the google android os on you windows.
http://www.zjtechlive.com/try-google-android-os-1-5-on-windows/
the current 3 deal of 24 months of spotify for £98 is pretty compelling – you get a nominal £240 of spotify, which is still worth £130 if you discount it at a mortgage-like rate of 6%
I dunno, signing up for any web service for 24 months seems risky.
I can’t think of the last time I used a site for 24 months continuously without something better coming along. (OK, Gmail).
fair point – but look at it as paying for 10 months (and getting 14 free). not too hard for a great service
and we haven’t yet seen the shared playlist ecosystem take off – that should be viral with lock-in. look at how many users hotmail still has….
Symbian has failed to full fill the services as claimed
Symbian might not be the best of operating systems but it has a totally dominating market position everywhere else but the US. If you want to build a big business in mobile globally you just have to support Symbian. It’s that simple.
In ten years things are probably going to look different but right now this is what you need to live with and understand – symbian is by far the biggest platform. If you’re happy to do business only in the US then of course supporting iPhone and Blackberry might be good enough but I’m guessing that Spotify wants to be big globally, not just the US.
I feel that £4.99 / month would be the ideal price point for Spotify Premium.
Any higher and it may fail to appeal to the masses and be outgunned by competition.
Keep the price low guys, after all “Everyone Loves Music”.
Great news. Unfortunately some of the latest Nokia models (E55,E72) are not yet supported by this version…
I agree, a web service for 24 months doesn’t seem very viable guys