Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is getting ready to re-brand its unlimited-free-music service Comes With Music as part of its Ovi services suite, after failing to make much of a success of it in its two years.
It’s a bit of an embarrassment, since Nokia had put what it called “a very major marketing investment” in to Comes With Music — likely a heavy outlay, with ad buys across London taxis, billboards and TV spots across Europe and elsewhere.
But, since announcing launch in 2007, Nokia has developed its services ambitions in to an integrated portfolio now named Ovi, so renaming it Ovi Music Unlimited, as it has told users it will do (via AllAboutSymbian), makes perfect sense. Comes With Music can now nestle with Maps, Calendar, Ovi Player etc.
One niggle remains — is Ovi itself a good brand for Nokia’s services and content? Anecdotal — the other night, my significant other asked: “What’s Ovi?”… whilst watching an Ovi TV commercial!.
The music switch is not just about names. Nokia’s promising “a slick new look that is even easier to use”.
The service offers users free music downloads to their registered PC and mobile for the life of a 12-, 18- or 24-month contract, keepable (but not moveable) after expiry.
The change must be more than cosmetic. After about seven months, Comes With Music had only about 107,000 users across nine countries, according to unofficial figures obtained at the time (official ones aren’t given). Speculation about wider changes than just the name will centre on whether Nokia will drop DRM or switch to a streaming model.
» Read The Celestial Jukebox: Who’s Who In The New Music Goldrush – we compare and contrast the unlimited-music contenders…