Top Mobile Applications 2006 - The Sprint Music Store
App: The Sprint Music Store
Companies: Groove Mobile/Sprint
Why it's a top app: While there are many worthy music apps out there--like those that identify songs through a phone's receiver or those that provide a metronome and tuner on-the-go, to name a few--it seems most appropriate to recognize the carrier whose music service leads the U.S. OTA pack: Sprint Nextel. The Groove Mobile-powered Sprint Music Store offers a wide selection of music (even enough to sate the appetite of a rare folk-music aficionado like myself) and more to the point, it's a reliable service with an intuitive interface. Upcoming features include a music recommendation service based on previous purchases, the ability to browse the buying history of other users and a replacement service for users who delete songs accidentally. Recent reports suggest that OTA downloads will soon make up one-third of worldwide mobile music revenues. They currently stand at nine percent. At last count (July), Sprint crossed the 4.5 million mark for OTA downloads, and while some of those are certainly promotional giveaways, many believe the carrier's success is a key factor in Verizon's decision to eliminate its arbitrary $15-a-month music service access fee.
