TMCnet News
DoCoMo's new handsets to have access to Napster online music service+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, May 27_(Kyodo) _ NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to make available the flat-rate pricing service of U.S. online music distributor Napster LLC for its new cellphone handsets to be marketed from this summer, informed sources said Saturday. Music distribution has been available for mobile phones at about 300 yen per track in Japan. But NTT DoCoMo's new service, for which exact charges have yet to be decided, will be the first monthly fixed-rate service here, they said. In October last year, Napster and a group of investors including Tower Records Japan Inc. established Napster Japan Inc. in Tokyo to launch a business to distribute music to digital mobile music players in Japan later this year. NTT DoCoMo has a capital alliance with Tower Records. The fixed-rate online music distribution service will become available for NTT DoCoMo's new handsets, F902iS, that go on sale this summer, the sources said. Users can download music tracks to their personal computers first, then transfer them to their mobile handsets. In the U.S. market, Napster offers more than 2 million pieces of music for users at fixed-rate charges equivalent to about 1,100-1,600 yen a month, they added. |