• Financial Times, Tuesday, September 9, 2008 12:45 PM

As Nokia prepares to roll out its new Comes With Music service next month, the Financial Times reports that Sony Ericsson will announce a similar unlimited music downloading service for its mobile phones later this month. According to the report, Sony is in talks with the major record labels about launching the new service in Europe before Christmas.

It's been a rough year for the world's fifth-largest handset maker, which was forced to issue two profit warnings as a result of lower than anticipated mobile sales in Europe, its core market. "Sony Ericsson's market share is shrinking," said Screen Digest analyst Dan Cryan. "If everybody is launching 'all you can eat' services, which make handsets more attractive to end users and to operators, they don't have much choice, especially when so much of their brand value is built around the Walkman." The FT report says the new service depends on finalizing contracts with record labels and mobile operators. Sony's existing music service is based on a pay-per-track business model as part of the PlayNow Arena, which also offers ringtones and games.

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