MusicStation: The World's Music, All of the Time, for Every Music Mobile.Omnifone Launches MusicStation, a Music Industry Backed Next Generation Music Service Coming to a Mobile Phone near You in Partnership with 23 Mobile Network Operators BARCELONA, Spain -- Omnifone, a UK based mobile music company, today launches MusicStation, an all-you-can-eat (AYCE AYCE All You Can Eat AYCE Alternative Youth Centre for Employment (Ontario, Canada) AYCE All You Care to Eat ) full-track mobile music service which will be rolled-out in partnership with major music labels, mobile operators and mobile industry partners across the world. The service will allow users access to the world's music on their industry-standard mobiles for [pounds sterling]1.99 per week.* "The launch of MusicStation heralds the next generation mobile music experience for the hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers worldwide who want a simple, easy-to-use digital music experience," said Rob Lewis, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Omnifone. "MusicStation will give users of any music-capable handset The part of the telephone that contains the speaker and the microphone. On a desktop phone, the part you hold in your hand is the handset. On a cellphone, the entire phone is the handset. See multihandset cordless and headset. the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from a global music catalogue supported by the music industry, all for a small weekly fee, wherever they are." As well as working in collaboration with the world's major music labels, Omnifone has already signed partnerships with 23 mobile network operators, who have subscribers in 40 countries and a total customer base of 690 million subscribers. Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, for Universal Music Group International said "Universal Music Group International are looking forward to the launch of MusicStation, it's one of the most consumer friendly and secure platforms we have seen and the worldwide potential of the MusicStation platform and its ability to make music instantly accessible to consumers via their mobile phone is enormous." The first operator partners to announce Rollout Agreements for MusicStation will be Scandinavian network operator Telenor and Vodafone partner network Vodacom in South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. . Four more networks will be launching across major territories in Western Europe Western Europe The countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). and Asia-Pacific in Q2 2007 and these rollouts will be announced in these local markets in the near future. Anders Jensen, Chief Marketing Officer at Telenor, confirming a Q2 2007 rollout, said, "As one of the first Omnifone partners to launch the MusicStation all you can eat service, Telenor has reinforced its commitment to deliver cutting edge innovative services to its mobile subscribers across Sweden." Further European operators plan rollouts Q3 2007. Lewis added, "We will ensure the vast majority of Europeans have the freedom to choose MusicStation by the time iPhone arrives in Europe. We will give consumers the choice they deserve". Omnifone confirms the countries its partners have active mobile phone networks in include: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. , France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and UK. MusicStation provides a complete music experience, enabling users to search for music, download and play music on their mobile, Mac/PC, create, manage and share playlists and tracks with the MusicStation community, and view the latest music news. All of this functionality, including music downloads A music download refers to the transferring of a music file from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment if required. , takes place in the background whilst music is being played. Unlike Apple's recently-announced iPhone, MusicStation downloads its music over-the-air (OTA (Over The Air) Refers to any wireless system such as AM/FM radio and network television that uses open space as its transmission medium. ) across the MNO's data network, giving users instant access to new music at any time, irrespective of irrespective of prep. Without consideration of; regardless of. irrespective of preposition despite their location. MusicStation also works on both 3G and the majority 2.5G marketplace, providing 2.5G subscribers with OTA full music downloads for the first time. "By leveraging the hundreds of millions of handsets sold every year by operators to deliver MusicStation into the global market, we believe we can give Apple a run for its money in digital music provision", continued Lewis. "The consumer experience of using MusicStation has much in common with that of an iPod, except that with MusicStation users don't need a credit card, computer or broadband connection See broadband and wireless broadband. and can still download and enjoy the world's music, all the time." MusicStation includes content from major labels as well as independent music labels and aggregators in local territories. Out-of-the-box MusicStation provides a totally localised localised - localisation music experience. Delivering tracks in Enhanced Advanced Audio Coding (audio) Advanced Audio Coding - (AAC) A successor to MP3, allowing lower bit rates and more stable quality. See MPEG-2 AAC Low Profile and MPEG-4 AAC Main Profile. format (eAAC+), Omnifone's new service also supports industry-strength DRM (1) (Digital Radio Mondiale) A digital audio broadcasting (DAB) system for AM radio in Europe. See HD Radio. (2) (Digital Rights M . Omnifone believes MusicStation can significantly enhance digital music revenues for partner MNOs, the music labels and the collection societies. Guy Fletcher OBE, Writer Director of the PRS PRS Partnership (IRB) PRS Printer (File Name Extension) PRS Paul Reed Smith (Guitar Brand) PRS Pairs (shoe industry) and Creative Director of leading independent publisher, Music Copyright Solutions Plc commented, "Music Station will enable inexpensive total access to the world's music by almost anyone with a mobile phoneO. it's a great business model for the industry and users alikeO truly an important part of the digital revolution". Omnifone also announces the appointment of Mobiltron Asia Pacific, as its Global Services Partner. Mobiltron's appointment will allow Omnifone partner MNOs to easily source factory-enabled handsets or to rapidly customise existing industry-standard handsets to ensure maximum handset reach to the MusicStation platform. Mobiltron distributes, customises and fulfils handsets across Europe and Asia through facilities in the PRC, Hong Kong and France. John Maclean-Arnott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mobiltron comments, "We are delighted to assist Omnifone in ensuring the largest proportion of mobile phone customers possible can have access to the compelling MusicStation experience. We look forward to successful rollouts in Europe and Asia Pacific." Robin Bloor, Partner at Hurwitz & Associates, Founder of Bloor Research, and also Co-Author co·au·thor or co-au·thor n. A collaborating or joint author. tr.v. co·au·thored, co·au·thor·ing, co·au·thors To be a collaborating or joint author of: "He and a colleague . . . "Service Oriented o·ri·ent n. 1. Orient The countries of Asia, especially of eastern Asia. 2. a. The luster characteristic of a pearl of high quality. b. A pearl having exceptional luster. 3. Architecture for Dummies" stated, after reviewing the MusicStation product, "Omnifone has a great opportunity, partly because Apple is doing exclusive deals with carriers and leaving others out in the cold. Apple isn't willing to share its iTunes revenue with the carriers and Apple has only one expensive device that is highly priced. Naturally Apple will take some share of the market, but even in its wildest dreams it won't get close to 5 percent. Omnifone is providing a music playing capability that many carriers are going to find very useful, maybe even necessary, if they wish to compete with Apple and stay centre stage for content, rather than become purely dependent on price sensitive services such as traditional voice and text." *Subscribers will pay a small weekly fee to access a comprehensive global catalogue of music drawn from all the major labels and independents. Pricing in the UK is [pounds sterling]1.99 per week for unlimited downloads including data with European pricing set at 2.99 Euros per week. A premium service will offer unlimited music downloads to a subscriber's mobile and Mac/PC desktop for [pounds sterling]2.99 per week in the UK and 3.99 Euros per week across the rest of Europe. All charges are inclusive of inclusive of prep. Taking into consideration or account; including. 2.5G or 3G data. About MusicStation MusicStation will run on all 2.5G and 3G music compatible mobiles, accounting for approximately 80% of all mobile phone handsets sold in Western Europe today, with both Java and Symbian versions available at launch. MusicStation's user interface and functionality are virtually identical across all manufacturer handset models, providing the same intuitive user experience on every handset. Downloaded MusicStation tracks and user playlists are stored centrally so that if a mobile is stolen, lost or upgraded, the replacement handset will automatically restore the same music experience the first time MusicStation is switched on. MusicStation automatically stores a user's favourite tracks on the phone's internal or removable memory. Whilst some phones can store thousands of tracks, others can store less than one hundred. MusicStation maximises the capabilities of any mobile phone by using unlimited downloads from the network to provide access to any of the catalogue at any time. MusicStation's architecture ensures that the memory allocated on the phone is always used to store the user's favourite and about-to-be-played music. This means that users can access their favourite tracks when in Flight Safe mode and access the full catalogue when connected to a 2.5G or 3G data network. In-built networked community functions, including the ability to share playlists and tracks with other users over operators' data networks mean that MusicStation provides consumers with a truly compelling community experience on the mobile for the first time. MusicStation users will be able to: * Discover the MusicStation Play Charts (tracks that are being played the most, rather than purely purchased or downloaded, the most) * Access playlists created by other MusicStation users; * Use collaborative filtering Also known as "social filtering" and "social information filtering," it refers to techniques that identify information a user might be interested in. There are different kinds of algorithms used, but the basic principle is to develop a rating system for matching incoming material. and nearest-neighbour technology to identify new tracks, artists, albums and other users that are likely to be of interest; * Publish playlists for other users to access, and achieve a 'cool' status based on their popularity; * Message other consumers, sending recommended tracks, albums, playlists and messages; * Receive music news, gig dates, single and album releases and messages from artists, automatically personalised Adj. 1. personalised - made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual; "personalized luggage"; "personalized advice" individualised, individualized, personalized based on what music the consumer listens to the most frequently. About Omnifone Mobile music company Omnifone was founded in 2003 by leading technology entrepreneurs Rob Lewis, Phil Sant SANT South African Native Trust and Mark Knight. The founders, along with Chairman Jim Feeney Jim Feeney (born 23 June, 1921 in Belfast, died 1985) was a Northern Irish professional footballer. During his career he made almost 100 appearances for Swansea City and over 200 appearances for Ipswich Town. External links
adj. 1. Occurring or completed without perceptible delay: Relief was instantaneous. 2. port MusicStation to multiple operator handsets, reducing time to market and giving the highest possible handset reach of any mobile music service globally. Omnifone has gained global support for MusicStation from the music and mobile industries and has an established network of 23 partner networks, reaching across 40 European, Asia Pacific and African countries. Omnifone's founders sold the successful internet software development company Cromwell Media for [pounds sterling]850m in March 2000 and subsequently sold Silicon.com and associated European assets they founded, to major online publishers, including NASDAQ-listed CNET (body) CNET - Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications. The French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion. Networks. Omnifone has offices in London, UK and Hong Kong. For further information, please visit www.omnifone.com.* *Please note Omnifone's corporate web site goes live 00.01 hours CES Monday 12th February 2007. |
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