Last week Ewan announced that Nokia was to launch Comes with Music check out details here, here and here. Details have now emerged that Sony Ericsson are set to do exactly the same under the name of PlayNowPlus (catchy huh). Currently there are no details about how long the unlimited downloads are for? Whether the tracks will be restricted to be able to play on your phone only? and finally what happens after the end of the subscription?
Sony Ericsson is not new to the music store scene and currently has it’s own Music Store service called PlayNow. PlayNowPlus is set to be first released on SE’s W980, and this for me is the key difference between the two offerings. Nokia is targeting the much lower end handsets in comparison SE will launch initially on one of its high end devices. I think that Nokia has gone for the correct market in this instance, however SE does have one major advantage as it has access immediately to Sony BMG’s catalogue.
You would have thought that with the strong walkman brand on its phone and close links to Sony BMG, Sony Ericsson would have launched something like this years ago?