Sony Ericsson ups music ante

Sony Ericsson and Telenor Sweden have teamed up to launch the handset manufacturer’s unlimited music download service ‘PlayNow Plus’ in the fourth quarter of this year, in direct competition to Nokia’s ‘Comes with Music’ service.

It is expected the subscription service will cost around US$15 per month and will be initially available on Sony Ericsson W902 phones that will come preloaded with 1,000 songs.

Currently, users of the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music device gain a free one-year subscription to the online Nokia Music Store where they have access to unlimited downloads. Once the user’s subscription ends, they are able to keep all their downloaded tracks. ‘Comes With Music’ is preparing for launch in the UK later this year.