Motorola Lands Universal Music for iRadio

Mobile phone maker Motorola has signed a deal with Universal Music Group for its forthcoming iRadio mobile music service.

Number two cell phone maker Motorola announced today that it has signed up Universal Music Group for its forthcoming iRadio mobile music service, currently expected to be unveiled at this January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Universal Music Groups is one of the so-called "Big Four" global music distribution companies, and counts artists such as Eminem, U2, Sheryl Crow, and Shania Twain on its artist roster.

Motorola says its forthcoming iRadio service will offer hundreds of pre-programmed commercial-free music channels as well as talk radio. Unlike streaming music services planned by some mobile phone makers and operators, Motorola’s iRadio will operate via customer’s broadband Internet connections: subscribers will download audio content to their computers and transfer them to their mobile phones via Bluetooth wireless networking, or to car stereos, home stereos, and other devices. iRadio will also enable users to transfer their existing music collections to their mobile phones. Motorola spokesperson Paul Alfieri says iRadio is designed to compliment rather than compete with wireless music download services from other providers.

Motorola initially planned to introduce iRadio in the latter half of 2005, but now hopes to roll out the iRadio service in the United States in early 2006, hand in hand with a phone available from at least one carrier which could store up to 70 hours of audio content. iRadio subscriptions are expected to cost about $7 per month.

Motorola recently introduced the iTunes-compatible ROKR phone, available in the U.S. through Cingular Wireless.