The major music labels in Ireland have been working with Nokia on the new Comes with Music service and are excited about the impending launch, Nokia country manager Alan O’Hara has said.
Comes with Music is Nokia’s music subscription service that allows Nokia owners to download an unlimited amount of music over the course of a year and keep that music.
On 2 March the company launched its 5800 XpressMusic phone into the Irish market and it has been picked up locally by Vodafone, O2 and Meteor.
O’Hara says the company is planning to launch Comes with Music in the next few months but is taking its time until it has what it regards as a perfect portfolio of phones to support the launch.
As well as the 5800, Nokia earlier this week launched the 5730 XpressMusic, the 5330 XpressMusic and 5030 XpressRadio phone.
“We want to launch the music service in Ireland at the right time in terms of getting the right line-up of devices into the market.
“We’re not in any hurry to launch the service, we will make a local decision to launch it when we feel that the market is right.
“We’re learning from other markets and other launches where things have gone not so well and of course where things have gone particularly well and we will tweak it to fit the local scene.
“We have a great relationship with the local music labels in Ireland and they are right behind our music strategy. They believe it will offer them new opportunities and they’re looking forward to it.
“The other great thing about the Comes with Music opportunity is we can localise it for Irish artists and put them to the forefront. We don’t want to make the mistake others have by creating a global platform with non-Irish bands,” O’Hara explained.
By John Kennedy
