"The offer of DRM-free tracks at no additional cost to Nokia announced the Chinese launch of its Comes With Music all-you-can-eat download service, promising the world's largest mobile market unlimited access to DRM-free digital content from global labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as local independents including Huayi Brothers Media Group and Taihe Rye. According to Nokia, the newest version of Comes With Music--introduced in conjunction with Chinese music service provider Huadong Feitian, and branded locally as "Yue Sui Xiang"--will launch across eight devices like the Nokia X6 32GB and Nokia X6 16GB, Nokia 5230, Nokia 5330, Nokia 5800w, Nokia 6700s, Nokia E52 and Nokia E72i; prices begin at $187 U.S., with each handset purchase enjoying a free 12-month Comes With Music subscription. "The offer of DRM-free tracks at no additional cost to consumers echoes moves to make navigation free on Ovi Maps," notes research firm CCS Insight.
Comes With Music now reaches 30 international markets including Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, with India on tap. Nokia first introduced Comes With Music in the U.K. in the autumn of 2008--during the 2010 Mobile World Congress in February, the handset giant's executive vice president of services Niklas Savander said the service was available on about 30 percent of Nokia devices worldwide at the end of 2009, a number poised to increase to roughly 70 percent by the end of this year. Savander added that the average Comes With Music subscriber downloads 500 free songs in the first few weeks after joining the service.
Opinion on Comes With Music is decidedly mixed, however. Contending that it is too late to rival Apple's iTunes premium digital music service, MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen forecasts Nokia will shutter its Comes With Music all-you-can mobile service by the end of 2010. "The time to really push for a premium service to compete with Apple was two to four years ago," Kuittinen told Reuters in late 2009. "I give it a year before they close it." CCS Insight's Ben Wood blames Nokia for saddling Comes With Music with inferior handsets and confusing marketing efforts, calling promotion for the service "colorful but oblique." Digital media research firm Music Ally is more blunt: "It's been nothing short of a disaster," director Steve Mayall said. "It was poorly executed and there was also a general level of disbelief of having unlimited music on a handset for one price."
