Nokia Comes with Music fails to hit right note

A year ago Nokia had launched Comes with Music - a subscription-based service that allows users of certain Nokia smartphones such as Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia N96 to download for keeps an unlimited number of tracks to their handset over a 12-month period - hoping that the service would not only act as a new revenue stream but also kick-start a new era of mobile digital music downloads.

The service was launched in nine countries and Nokia said Comes with Music users download around 200-300 tracks during their first month of which 10 percent are new releases.

However, according to industry blog MusicAlly, as of July 2009, only 32,728 people used the service in the UK while the number of users in Australia and Singapore were much lower - 23,003 and 19,318 respectively.

In Mexico and Brazil, where the service was launched this summer, the figures were much worse - 16,344 and 10,809 respectively.

In the remaining countries viz. Germany, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, Comes With Music fared even worse with only 2673, 1101, 691 and 560 users availing of the service.

According to MusicAlly, which published the figures, the service has not given Nokia the returns it has hoped for, "considering the investment it has made in Comes with Music."

"However...there is evidence that Comes with Music is doing better in emerging markets than in developed Western countries where there is more competition," it added.

MusicAlly's figures are shocking as Nokia boasted earlier this year in April that it sold more than 3 million units of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic smartphones alone in the first three months of 2009.

Meanwhile, though Nokia has refused to comment on the figures, saying it it against the policy of the company to comment on industry speculation or rumours, yet, it acknowledged that many people are unaware that the service allows one to "download and forever-keep as many tracks as you like."