Cingular sides with Microsoft against Apple

Cellular operators have been frantically offering media services in the last couple of years in hopes of offsetting declining voice revenues. So far, they've been pretty clueless about what their subscribers want, but Cingular seems to have figured out one important piece of the puzzle, at least if stories about its forthcoming music service are true.

Its solution, at least in part, is to embrace Microsoft in that company's ongoing battle with Apple over mobile media. It may also cozy up to Apple, but that remains to be seen.

Apple has made a huge success of selling a proprietary music system: Its wildly successful iPod players can only download music from its equally successful iTunes online music store. Microsoft responded with its PlaysForSure digital rights management scheme, which is at the heart of subscription music services like Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo! Music. PlaysForSure is supported by myriad media players from vendors like Samsung, Archos, SanDisk and Creative.

Sprint's and Verizon Wireless have their own proprietary music services, which are expensive and don't offer nearly the selection of either iTunes or the subscription services. The Wall Street Journal now reports that Cingular, the largest cellular operator in the U.S., will avoid its competitors' proprietary approach and will support the PlaysForSure music subscription services and the Microsoft software they use.

That means Cingular users will be able to transfer music acquired from services such as Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo! from their PCs to their cell phones and, eventually, will be able to download music over-the-air, according to the Wall Street Journal. Besides its non-proprietary approach, the big story here is that Cingular, which is the largest carrier in the U.S., is siding with Microsoft in its battle against Apple.

At least at first. There also are persistent rumors that Apple is developing an "iPhone" that would work with iTunes and that Cingular also will adopt that phone and service. It would make sense for Cingular to adopt both approaches, although it is apparently going to market first with support for the PlaysForSure service.

Sprint and Verizon are trying to have their cake and eat it by trying to sell both data access to music lovers and the music as well. So far, their approach isn't working -- despite their protests, those proprietary services are going nowhere fast. Cingular, however, isn't being as greedy and, as a result, is likely to sell a whole lot more data service than its competitors. And, in the cellular business, data service, and not music, is what the cellcos are really about.