Al Russell, Vodafone’s head of internet and content services, said:
“This generation does not want an archive of music. We offer unlimited music on a rental model – no-one has done this in the marketplace, and certainly not the iPhone.
Actually, Al, what they don’t want is to pay a monthly fee for music they can’t keep and don’t own. This has been proven again and again – which is why iTunes is doing well and every subscription music service out there remains in the doldrums.
Where have you been Al, if you think that subscription music models haven’t been tried before? You think Real’s Rhapsody is doing well? Or any of the Windows Media subscription services that we hear so little about?
See, thing is, Al, you don’t need to pimp music to get people using your services. Provision of content is not the job of the carrier. Stick to what you know and focus on giving us better carrier services rather than trying to compete in a market where you know nothing and can’t offer any value.
Apple may be making the music business look easy but it’s not easy – their success is a complete fluke. Microsoft fought for years with TV and music to try to get this kind of success and penetration and they failed abysmally. Same with other companies that tried to assume they were smarter than the consumer.
Are you arrogant enough to think that anyone outside of a big city would be remotely interested in streamed music to a handset?
What the hell do you know about this generation anyway?