Ericsson and Napster join hands to open Mobile Music Service

Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson has joined hands with online music provider Napster Inc to provide a digital music service that allows listeners to download music to their mobile phones.

The companies said on Wednesday they will license the Napster-branded music service to mobile phone carriers, much as Ericsson currently sells services such as text messaging and voice mail.

The deal between Ericsson and Napster comes as handset makers, mobile carriers, and established online players like Apple’s iTunes service battle to control the nascent mobile music market.

The service is scheduled to go live over the next 12 months.As Ericsson is owned by Sony it is not known yet whether the service will fall as a subset of the Napster-to-Go ideology, further utilizing Microsoft’s Janus technology, or if Sony is using this as an opportunity to promote its own proprietary technology including ATRAC3.

Users will have the ability to download music via a computer, or a mobile network. Sony Ericsson also announced it planned to release its own music-centered mobile phone, to compete with Motorola, under the Walkman brand.