Despite Efforts To Popularize Mobile Music Downloads, Users Still Aren’t Sold

A new report from industry analysts ComScore has shown that only 2% of mobile users in US and Western Europe used their handset to download music in the first quarter of 2010, demonstrating the struggle companies like Nokia are facing when trying to market its Comes With Music service.

Whilst mobile music purchases were low, 24% admitted to listening to music on their phone with the vast majority choosing to download music on the desktop and transfer media to their handset.

Nokia has been incentivising  its users by bundling a years free subscription to its Comes With Music service with the latest generation of its smartphones, giving users access to a music store containing millions of songs that can be kept after the subscription runs out.

Today’s report shows mobile users are still not comfortable using their handsets as a central media hub. Slow download times, lack of service and the availability of certain music download services on different mobile operating systems could be to blame.

Also, many music fans are choosing to take advantage of online music streaming services where access is provided to millions of tracks without the need for a single download.

Companies like Nokia will also look to one company, Apple. Apple have all but monopolised online music downloads with its iTunes service where users are offered low priced tracks on their PC, Mac or iPhone devices.

The report also revealed that 82% of users from five European countries surveyed used their phone to send text messages with 35% downloading applications or games and 25% using their handset to browse the web. ComScore surveyed users aged 13 years and above in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States.