Stefan’s got an interesting post over at Intomobile, detailing the number of European carriers who have stated that they will NOT be carrying the Nokia N81 (at least the 8GB version) because it comes with Nokia’s Music Store pre-loaded, and they’re afraid that will cut into the profits of their own music stores.
Personally, I think this puts Nokia in an interesting position. First off, neither of the two GSM carriers in the US (AT&T and T-mobile) have their own music store. T-Mobile USA is pretty far behind in terms of everything other than pricing, and AT&T has taken an uncharacteristically open stance by making sure that their "music handsets" are PlaysForSure compatible, allowing users to load their phones up with tracks from a number of different Online Music Stores such as Napster and Yahoo! Music.
Since neither of the carriers have a vested interest in what music store their devices connect to, I would say that Nokia is readily poised to pitch the N81 to both carriers, albeit with a few changes (the most notable being US 3G). You’ve already read Matt aka Ollywompus’ diatribe on why he thinks Nokia and T-Mobile USA are poised to do great things, and I’m a fan of AT&T myself. While Nokia’s past relationship with AT&T isn’t all that great, I’d think that if they could get the carrier to snag the N81 8GB, it’d fly off the shelves. The only catch is if there is something in AT&T’s contract with Apple that prevents them from carrying such a competitive device.
I certainly hope that Nokia brings this hot little phone across the pond, instead of scrapping it altogether. What do you think?
