Music on mobiles phones: The past present and future

Posted: 30 January 2009

Next month sees the launch of the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress and one of the key areas that will be up for discussion is how music has now become an integral part of the mobile phones industry.

Taking place in Barcelona between February 16th and 19th, the organisers of the event have dedicated a one-day conference - entitled Mobile Backstage - to looking at how the various elements of modern cellular and web technology is impacting the needs of the consumer in this field.

It was announced this week that Black Eyed Peas vocalist Will.i.am will be in attendance at the event and will deliver a keynote speech to the gathered visitors. The star has himself recently set up Dipdive - a site which delivers music and video content to handsets and other enabled media devices.

Commenting on his appearance, the rapper, producer and performer said he was keen to take part due to the mass market demand for technology and downloadable content. "Mobile is the medium for the masses," he said. "With nearly four billion mobile connections across the globe, the potential for mobile to change not only how the world consumes entertainment but also interacts with it is enormous."

He added the Mobile Backstage event would be an ideal opportunity for those in the industry to look at the future of such services - and how it can best position itself to embrace it.

Other speakers at the conference will include Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, chief executive of MySpace Chris De Wolfe, Nokia's head of global music Elizabeth Schimel and Volker Hirsch - chef executive officer of Connect2Media.

This month also saw one of the most eagerly-anticipated music-focused mobile phones hit the market. Unveiled at the Nokia Remix event in London last October, Nokia finally made its entry into the touchscreen revolution with the 5800 XpressMusic. The device is one of the first to offer the Finnish manufacturer's Comes With Music service - which provides a full year of unlimited access to Nokia's Music Store catalogue.

In terms of features, the 5800 handset is equipped with support for Flash content, includes a graphic equalizer, has 8GB of memory storage - which equates to around 6000 tracks - and also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and integrated surround sound stereo speakers. From this specification list, could be argued Nokia is keen to address the level of growth that the people behind the GSMA World Mobile Congress have also recognised.

Commenting on the new model and the Comes With Music service, the manufacturer's vice-president Jo Harlow said: "We [have] set out to connect people through the one thing we all feel a universal connection to - music."

"The way in which people enjoy music is different around the world. With that in mind, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gives people the freedom to experience music they love in the way they prefer." She went on to say the addition of a touchscreen interface on the phone, would only serve to boost the overall user experience.

Of course, it is seemingly not just Nokia that is keen to take advantage of this new revolution in the way people access their tunes. Having established itself as a world leader in portable music with the iPod and its associated iTunes software, Apple introduced the original iPhone - a handset that combined a mobile phone, web device and media player – and it was always going to be something which stood out from the crowd. The phone - and its successor, the Apple iPhone 3G - offers integrated access to a number of software systems, but it is the technology that is synonymous with the iPod that will be a tempting consideration for many looking at buying the latest mobile phones for listening to their music on-the-go.

In its "definitive" review, PC Advisor looked at the music software incorporated into the Apple iPhone 3G and said that it emulated the iPod in getting rid of buttons in favour of a touch sensitive interface. This, it said was a great addition when it comes to accessing your library of music as "you can flick through artists, songs and playlists and turn the iPhone on its side to enter Cover Flow".

"The iPhone also throws up a couple of unexpected improvements over the iPod Touch. The two side buttons on the phone can be used to adjust the volume, while a single click of the earpiece acts as a play [and] pause remote control. A quick double-click skips to the next track," it added.

Another manufacturer that has been keen to build on its reputation as a provider of portable music solutions is Sony. The company has long been associated with the name Walkman, a product that was started as a brand and became the common term for most portable music players in the same way someone might refer to a vacuum cleaner as a Hoover. Therefore, when Sony Ericsson began to create music-focused devices, the name was resurrected and applied to such models as the W800, W900, W890 and W950.

One of the latest models in the range, the Sony Ericsson Walkman W302, was recently put to the test by Tech Radar and although it was noted the budget handset was missing some features, the music performance was all you would expect from the Walkman brand.

"The shake control from the W302's big brothers is missing - not that we felt the loss of this gimmicky accessory - as is the SensMe search function based on what mood you're in, but more useful is the five-band graphic equaliser which can be adjusted manually or using one of the ten preset levels," the reviewer said.

So with a number of companies now eager to take on the market, it seems consumers are in the driving seat when it comes to carrying music on their mobile phones. And with Google's Android software soon to have access to an Amazon mp3 store feature, the landscape could yet change again in 2009.

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