IN RETALIATION for a move made last December by handset vendor Nokia, the Duke of Cupertino is thinking about offering versions of his Iphones and Ipods that come with unlimited access to the Itunes music library.

At the Nokia World show, the company announced its 'Nokia Comes With Music' programme. This would provide owners of its musicphones with unlimited access to millions of music tracks for a year.

Nokia launched the deal with a tie-up with just one of the music giants - Universal Music Group International, although at the time Nokia claimed to be in discussion with the remaining majors.

Apple has, of course, already got deals in place with the major labels through its Itunes store. However, the sticking point appears to be just how much the majors want per device to offer such access.

According to a report in the FT, Nokia is understood to be offering around $80 per device while Apple is believed to be offering closer to $20 each.

In a poignant dig at rival music services, Nokia pointed out that with Comes With Music, on the expiry of the deal after a year, the music wouldn't disappear from the phone.

It's unclear whether the music Apple intends to offer would be DRM-free.

There are also disagreements over whether consumers would be prepared to follow a subscription model and pay, say $100 per device for unlimited music. In Europe subscriptions aren't so popular – hence the popularity of pay-as-you go phones in most European countries.

Nokia is expected to ship its first Comes With Music handsets some time after Q2 2008. µ

L'Inq
FT