Are we seeing an effort from Motorola to take on the upcoming iPhone? The Napster on demand music subscription service will soon be heading to mobile phones according to PhoneContent.com. The site is reporting that Napster and Motorola have announced a marketing agreement that will provide easy access to Napster’s music library and other content through Motorola’s line of portable subscription-enabled devices. The two companies are developing promotional efforts for North America, the UK and Germany to provide the Napster music experience for a range of Motorola music-enable handsets, including the ROKR Z6 and Z6m phones.
The first phase of this marketing agreement, reports PhoneContent.com, is to provide Motorola phone owners with a free month of the Napster to Go subscription service. This will be available as in-box and aftermarket promotions, via retail and through the carriers in the US and Europe. Napster to Go is compatible with Motorola handsets that feature the Windows Media DRM, and this promotion is expected to launch in the second half of this year.
Napster and Motorola Enter Unique Marketing Agreement for the US, UK and German Markets [PhoneContent.com]
Motorola is doing what it always does…wait to see what if it can copy what’s in the marketplace rather than drive the marketplace. Motorola came up with this idea over 2 years ago. They called it iRadio. They promoted it heavily for about 1 year and then killed it. I doubt this service will be useful, meaningful, or functional by the time it finally gets to market — see the iTunes enabled Motorola phones for a perfect example of this.