"Oddly, vendors such as Nokia and Microsoft who offer both subscription music services and phones haven't figured out how to pair them together."
I'm sure it's not a matter of figuring it out. In the US at least, I think the real barrier is the cell provider. They're working on mostly outdated infrastructure, and they're barely keeping up with the growing demand for cellular bandwidth used for data. What if half of all cellphone users started streaming music on their phones?
In general, though, hardware technology might be just as much a limiting factor. How long will a battery in a small to medium sized phone last if you're streaming music in addition to surfing, checking emails, texting, and sometimes actually making a call? Apple already limits what's capable on the iPhone due to the impact on battery life.
You could have the greatest mobile multimedia experience in the world, but if you need a backpack full of batteries to make it last longer than an hour, it's probably not worth it.
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"Oddly, vendors such as Nokia and Microsoft who offer both subscription music services and phones haven't figured out how to pair them together."
I'm sure it's not a matter of figuring it out. In the US at least, I think the real barrier is the cell provider. They're working on mostly outdated infrastructure, and they're barely keeping up with the growing demand for cellular bandwidth used for data. What if half of all cellphone users started streaming music on their phones?
In general, though, hardware technology might be just as much a limiting factor. How long will a battery in a small to medium sized phone last if you're streaming music in addition to surfing, checking emails, texting, and sometimes actually making a call? Apple already limits what's capable on the iPhone due to the impact on battery life.
You could have the greatest mobile multimedia experience in the world, but if you need a backpack full of batteries to make it last longer than an hour, it's probably not worth it.