Europe : Ericsson and Napster announce the first European launch for Napster Mobile, with Irish mobile phone operator O2 Ireland. O2 Ireland is also the first operator to launch Napster Mobile in i-mode. 

O2 Ireland customers will be able to search, browse, preview and purchase full-length songs from Napster's immense catalog and enjoy Ericsson-aggregated personalization content via their i-mode, WAP and Java-enabled wireless handsets.

The service also features a recommendation engine which makes content recommendations based upon each consumer's musical taste, and dual delivery, a feature that sends a copy of the content purchased on the handset to the customer's PC. Napster Mobile gives customers access to Napster's expert programming on the handset, including featured artists and top tracks of the day.

Gerry McQuaid, Commercial Director, O2 Ireland, says: "We are delighted to be the first mobile operator in Europe to launch Napster Mobile. The Napster brand is instantly recognisable as one of the world's biggest music brands with 2 million tracks available immediately for our i-mode customers. Our customers have asked us for on-line music brands and we are delighted to provide the Napster catalogue as part of our i-mode service."

John Hennessy, country manager, Ericsson Ireland, says: "We believe that O2 Ireland's subscribers will find this a very attractive service to use. Music is an important area for telecom operators and now Napster Mobile service with i-mode functionality opens up possibilities for other i-mode operators." 

Brad Duea, Napster's president, says: "We're incredibly excited to be partnering with O2 Ireland on the European launch of Napster Mobile and are confident that the mobile service will prove as successful as its online counterpart. With over 3 million available tracks, Napster Mobile gives music fans the freedom to explore the biggest mobile music catalog whenever and wherever they want, making it the perfect extension of Napster's existing service."

Ericsson will host, integrate and manage the round-the-clock-operations of the service for O2 Ireland under a managed service agreement.

Hosting is a part of Ericsson's managed services offering and it is a business model that makes it easy, fast, and cost-efficient for operators to launch the service.

Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.