Staff Techdrunk 
Nokia is going to launch Nokia Music Store in India on the 18th of December. As far as the commercial launch is concerned, it has been said that the launch will take place in the first quarter of the year 2009.
Nokia has done a collaboration with the Indian Music Industry association IMI, Hungama Mobile, and Universal Music in India, which according to D. Shivkumar, MD of Nokia India covers over 90% of the music available.
Here are some of the updates
Anssi Vanjoki, EVP of Nokia: People expect that the services that are brought to them are complete solutions – all need to be available via mobile and laptop and desktop. In India, most people will have their first experience of the Internet through the mobile phone. The next generation web does not neccesitate the personal computer. Other forms of computers are not so important anymore.Maps on Ovi: everything free of charge, and available on the mobile
D. Shivkumar, MD of Nokia India: People want affordable devices and music everywhere. Music is about downloading, sharing creating playlists, experiencing enhancement via Accessories.
Issues with Digital Music: Piracy, lack of range, payment mechanisms.
Nokia Music Store is a one stop shop. This store will be launched for all customers on 18th of December, and launched in first quarter next year. We have tied up with International, local leading and independent players. We have over 1 million songs. You can sideload songs from your PC. If you’re buying a mobile phone, it will have a unique pin number which allows you to download music.
In India, if you need to launch something, you need a retail presence. We have a retail strategy, in order to sell. We’ve got blogs from various bands, who are talking about their experiences, wherever they’re playing.
Vijay Lazarous, President of IMI: We thought piracy would end with every technological breakthrough. what we found – it increased with every technological breakthrough.
People who’ve been doing hardware selling, and even the telcos, have been using music as a usp. Nokia has chosen to partner with us, and offering a fair monetization. We are in the business of managing creativity, and that can only happen if there are resources. Copyright is a mix of talent and enterprise. If used carefully, we would land in markets where copyright exits – Dubai, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Universal Music:This promises to open up a new arena, by which we interact with consumers for music. We expect this music service from Nokia to leapfrong the sale of music to another level. We hear of downloads, p2p services, but it’s more of sideloading that p2p and downloads. A lot of this is down to the availability of content. Nokia has 30 million music enabled devices in the market, and we just might be able to build a legit market in the country. We might have the possiblity of people sending music as well.
Neeraj Roy, Hungama Mobile: We have 57-58 million online, and around the same on the mobile internet. Most of them on the mobile don’t even realize they’re using mobile Internet, via CDMA services. The top 10 sites in the world – between no.2 to no.5 is Idnia’s contribution. Most of them are not even on the mobile.
This market is apt and ready for convergence. We already have had devices in the market, whicha re ahead of the network in many senses. The proposition which comes with music that has an online and mobile interface is compelling. Every market is unique, and this market is just a bit more unique. You would need just a little more creativity, and the approach of bringing the industry, would be more unique.
