On the heels of news last week that it has secured EMI‘s recorded music division for nearly $2 billion, Universal Music is again in the news: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is reportedly very close to signing a deal with the company to use its music as part of an upcoming download…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has yet to make any public announcements on cloud-based music services, but some more details have emerged that seem to indicate that this is precisely what the company has in mind.

Our look at some of the big stories in mobile today: Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) files patents that point to a cloud service; two UK operators launch a long-awaited NFC payment service; Verizon gets its first Windows Phone 7 device; and is the first 4G iPhone going to appear in China?

Our look at some of the big stories in mobile today: Apple’s apparently getting closer to a cloud music product after signing a deal with EMI; Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) goes after the FCC in court over data roaming rules; Gartner and Millennial Media release their latest figures respectively on…

Our rundown of mobile news to start your day. Today we look at the newest reports around Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and cloud services; Motorola’s newest investment, into the world of HTML5 gaming; Twitter’s new iPhone update; and Samsung’s takeaway on the iPad 2.

New forecasts out today for the mobile music market from Juniper Research: it will bring in revenues of $5.5 billion by 2015, compared to $3.1 billion last year. What’s interesting is that mobile music might just turn out to be more competitive than the digital market overall. While digital music…

Nokia’s struggle to compete against Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), and drive more sales of its own smartphones, hit a new low today, as the Finnish company said it would be discontinuing its free, bundled music service, Comes With Music, in 27 of the 33 markets where it has operated since 2008,…

“Don’t it always seem to go you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” ... Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) didn’t pave paradise but it helped kill off albums and now it wants the magic—and the higher profit margins—back. The FT reports via multiple unidentified sources that Apple, EMI, Warner Music…

Can music-oriented social-networking site Imeem get consumers to pay to get music on their cell phones that they could otherwise listen to for free on their PCs? The company, whose ad-funded site has the backing of all four major music labels to let user legally stream songs to listen to,…

Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) has named David Sach as CFO, replacing John Butler, who stepped down in September after Clearwire completed its merger with *Sprint* Nextel’s WiMax unit. Most recently, Sach served as CFO at Millicom International Cellular, a wireless company in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Prior to…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has launched a UK mobile music download platform offering more than one million tracks and 10,000 videos from Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, EMI Music and Warner Music. The paid-for MSN Mobile Music service, launched in partnership with London-based VidZone Digital Media, offers tracks for £1.50 ($2.07), ringtones…

Carriers have found a new way of dangling content in front of consumers, but with all the same strings attached as the original “walled garden.” SanDisk (NSDQ: SNDK), the maker of the microSD memory cards, said today it has successfully demonstrated new technology with the help of LG (SEO: 066570),…

Early results from Nokia’s Comes With Music service are showing that one of the more surprising demographics that are adopting the service are mothers, said Trevor Madigan, Nokia’s manger of entertainment and communities Americas for software and services. “Madigan told me at CES that it’s an “agitated” mother who’s bothered…

This year was somewhat an anomaly for the wireless industry. A lot of things got done: the impossible of mergers closed; new phones launched that hold the promise of significant industry change; new business and distribution models emerged; and higher-speed networks were more prevalent, making for a better user experience.…

—Nokia (NYSE: NOK) launches traffic program: Nokia has launched a public pilot program out of its Silicon Valley-based research center to learn about GPS and traffic. Mobile Millennium, which is being done in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation, the California Department of Transportation and Nokia’s Navteq…

Thumbplay has launched a full-track music store for mobile phones with a catalog of 1.5 million songs. With DRM-free tracks from Universal, EMI, The Orchard (NSDQ: ORCD) and INgrooves, Thumbplay is hoping to grab as much interest for full songs as it has with ringtones. As ringtone sales continue to…

—MobiTV gets ABC content: MobiTV has struck a deal with Disney-ABC Television group to distribute ABC Mobile, a channel which includes full-length episodes ABC series,  Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Samantha Who? and Ugly Betty, among others. ABC Mobile also features additional content from ABC Daytime, ABC Family and ABC News.…

The battle and gamble over unlimited music services has arrived. Once Nokia (NYSE: NOK) came out of the gate last December with its Comes With Music concept, much of the music industry seems to be following their lead and in some cases beating Nokia to the punch. In Australia today…

More details are emerging about Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson’s (NSDQ: ERIC) unlimited music service, which sounds a lot like Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) upcoming “Comes With Music.” Quoting recording-label sources, CNet reports today that the service is expected to launch within the next week, and that it’s through a partnership with…