Napster launches in Japan
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Today Napster, the Internet music download company, launched its service in the world’s second largest music market. That’s Japan. Jocelyn Ford has more.
JOCELYN FORD: In Japan, Napster might as well forget PC music downloads. The big money is elsewhere.
Technology Analyst Gerhardt Fasol.
GERHARDT FASOL:“In the United States people download music predominantly to PCs but in Japan people download music to mobile phones. Only 5 percent is to PCs.”
Napster’s already figured that out. It’s partnering with Japan’s biggest mobile phone company.
NTT Docomo has 51 million subscribers, and it says most of its future handsets will be able to download Napster songs, similar to an iPod.
Apple, for its part, has enjoyed big success in Japan. On iTunes it’s selling single songs for $1.30 each.
But Napster hopes its new approach will pay off. It’s the first service to offer an all-you-can-download option, going for $11 a month.
I’m Jocelyn Ford for Marketplace.
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