San Diego – Prepaid carrier
said it will become the first U.S. carrier to bundle
unlimited music downloads into a wireless rate plan when it launches it
service in January.
The service will initially
be available exclusively on a $199-suggested 3G Samsung Suede feature phone,
which will be displayed at Cricket’s CES display in South Hall 4, upper level,
Room S210 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The unlimited over-the-air
music downloads are included in a new $55/month prepaid plan, which also
provides unlimited nationwide calling; unlimited nationwide text, picture and video
messaging; unlimited global text messaging; unlimited 3G mobile Web; unlimited
email, unlimited data back up, and unlimited video. The music downloads include
full songs, ringtones, and ringback tones.
The service features a
catalog of millions of songs from the four major record labels: Universal Music
Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music. Music is
downloaded over the cellular airwaves without a digital rights management (DRM)
technology to provide a better user experience, better handset performance, and
better battery life, the carrier said. All songs, however, are locked via
SanDisk technology to an included 4GB memory card, although users are allowed
to share their songs with other Muve users.
The service will be available in January exclusively on the
$199-suggested 3G Samsung Suede feature phone with 3-inch touchscreen, HTML web
browser, virtual QWERTY keyboard, and a dedicated music button that launches
the Muve Music application. The phone operates on Cricket’s CDMA2000 1X and
1xEV-DO wireless networks.
Though a 4GB memory card is
included with the phone, consumers will also be able to buy additional cards
that incorporate SanDisk’s technology. 8GB cards will also be available.
In February 2009, Cricket
became the first prepaid carrier in the U.S. to launch over-the-air music
downloads.
