Spot the USP
Mobile phone operator 3 has announced it will be the first to bundle the premium version of music streaming service Spotify - which usually costs £9.99 per month and is the only version that works on mobile phones.
While the other four UK mobile operators have been making a lot of noise in the booming smartphone market, such as joining the iPhone party, 3 has been relatively quiet. It's apparently hoping to remedy this by bundling Spotify Premium with its first Android phone - the HTC Hero - when it launches next month.
With the HTC hero having been launched three months ago in the UK by Orange, 3 seems to be lagging somewhat when it comes to pioneering handsets. It will be hoping that, by innovating on the software and services side, it will gain an advantage.
The Spotify/Hero bundle will require a two year subscription at a cost of £35 per month and an up-front payment of £99.
Charlotte Blanchard, director of products & services at 3 said: "As a first step we've built this service into an attractive, well-priced package with the HTC Hero. Over time our deal with Spotify will extend across a range of our products including Mobile Broadband."
