Music Phones Seen As Weak Rivals Of The iPod

Carlo Longino at The Mobile Music Blog has a spot on summary of this Mobile Pipeline article that covers findings from Strategy Analytics recent report comparing the four most advanced music phones in the United Kingdom and Europe with the iPod.

The study was performed on the other side of the pond due to the U.S. networks being "not yet ready to handle a mass market of music downloads," according to Strategy Analytics. Analyst Chris Ambrosio said, "(Nevertheless) some early music phones available in the U.S. have similar features and functionality,"so (results in Europe) is an early indication that we're not going to see different scoring in the U.S."

The four handsets reviewed, the Samsung E720, O2 XM, Sony Ericsson SEMC V800 and the Orange SPV 500 , all received failing grades in quality and usability compared to the iPod.

"Just adding MP3 support won't make the mass market use the device as a music phone. Carriers and phone vendors need to enhance the usability of the software and hardware in order to drive real usage," Ambrosio added. "Carriers are experimenting with this in an effort to leverage what they believe has huge potential," Ambrosio said.