Nokia's Ovi Music hurt by phone-heavy focus

Direct downloads make up just a sliver of the music actually loaded on phones, comScore discovered today. About 24 percent of all phones are used to play music, but just two percent actually obtained that music from a store found on the phone itself. The remaining 22 percent of phone owners sideloaded the music from a computer either manually or through a sync app like iTunes.

Such figures are a blow to phone makers and services that lean heavily on a phone-first strategy for downloads. Nokia has a desktop client but focuses chiefly on its mobile downloads for Ovi Music and Comes With Music. Many carriers, including North American providers like AT&T, Rogers and Verizon, often try to steer customers to their own stores.

Apple makes its own store available through the iPhone but built its iTunes desktop client first and puts most of its emphasis on downloads from there rather than on the device.

The study also focused closely on the habits of European users in other areas. While it was expected that a large majority of 82 percent regularly send text messages, only 35 percent loaded apps on their phones while 25 percent browsed the web.

By Electronista Staff