Nokia’s 5800 Combined With Comes With Music A “Big Hit”
Nokia’s first touch screen phone, the 5800, came to market much later than rival offerings, while critics have routinely questioned the economic sense of Comes With Music, its music offering that gives users unlimited tracks by bundling the cost of the music into the price of the phone. But according to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, in the company’s earnings call earlier today, the 5800 Xpress Music combined with Comes With Music was a “big success story” for the world’s largest handset maker.
The device, which has been dubbed the “poor man’s iPhone,” was the number one revenue and gross margin generating product for Nokia and has “seen strong demand in every country it has launched.” In the UK, where it has struggled to keep up with demand, it is Nokia’s number one volume and value product. Nokia said it shipped 2.6 million units in Q1, and is now shifting the device at the rate of more than 1 million unit a month. Given that more than a few reviewers have found the 5800 Xpress Music clunky and the interface not very user-friendly, it must be the free music and the low price tag that’s enticing consumers.
As for Come With Music, Nokia revealed a few points about the service. Read more after the jump.
— Comes With Music users are downloading a “healthy mix of both new and older songs, while also exploring and consuming a far wider range of music.” Kallasvuo said that this “demonstrates Comes With Mucis can help record labels monetize their back catalog and other longtail content.
— Comes With Music customers have download “millions of tracks”, and approximately 20 percent of those tracks have been downloaded over the air, which Nokia pointed out was a “valuable traffic generator for operaors.”
— In Singapore, where the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music launched with Comes With Music earlier this year, Nokia said that based on early data, Comes With Music is projected “to increase the value of the digital download music market in Singapore by approximately 30 percent.” Said Kallsvuo, “In summary, Comes With Music is a “win-win for consumers, operators, record labels, publishing houses, recording artists and Nokia.”
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