Kyocera and Puretracks

Kyocera and Canadian online music shop Puretracks today joined up to help establish what they promise will be a truly international music store. Calling it a "white label" store, Kyocera says a new version of Puretracks' service will be attached to Kyocera-made phones rather than to a particular cell provider. This would let phone users use the same general store regardless of their exact region, the company says. It would also let many smaller carriers, which are rarely able to host their own stores, offer a music service while still giving it a customized feel.

Shopping is also carrier-independent and could be used as long as the phone itself is still usable with a new service, Kyocera says. The phone manufacturer hopes to produce models that can fully support Puretracks by 2008, but notes that the store isn't limited to any one format and sells unprotected songs in AAC and MP3 formats as well as the original copy protected Windows Media standard since dropped by Puretracks in Canada.

By Electronista Staff