Napster and Dwango Wireless have announced the debut of the Napstertones mobile phone service, a new consumer service that will provide ringtones, artist voice "shoutouts," exclusive wallpapers featuring the iconic Napster Kitty and other graphics from Napster's library. Napstertones is immediately available to Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers.
After the initial launch, Dwango and Napster expect that consumers of most major carriers will be able to access the Napstertones service during summer 2005. The service also has a planned rollout in Canada to Rogers Wireless and Fido this June.
Napstertones can be directly purchased from Napster or from within Napster's digital music service. Napstertones' exclusive content includes polyphonic ringtones, mastertones, voicetones of artist "shoutouts" and unique graphics, each of which cost US$1.99 to US$2.99 and which are compatible with a wide variety of phones.
"As consumers in North America increasingly embrace personalized content on their mobile devices, digital music providers such as Napster are perfectly positioned to offer compelling content to wireless subscribers," said Alexander U. Conrad, president and COO, Dwango Wireless. "The Napster brand resonates with music lovers everywhere and we look forward to a continuing partnership that delivers the best in mobile media entertainment."
In celebration of the new service, music fans will receive a free song download of their choice from Napster's catalog when they purchase their first ringtone from Napstertones within the next 30 days. Expanding its prepaid card program into the ringtone space, Napster will debut a Napstertones prepaid card by end of the summer.
