Nokia taps Loudeye for wireless music downloads

Not to be outdone by the recent tie-up between Apple and Motorola to get iTunes onto cellphones, Nokia has cut a deal with Loudeye, a company which doesn't sell music downloads directly to consumers but helps other company set up their own online music stores and distribution systems. This doesn't mean that Nokia is planning to set up an online music store for cellphones of their own that might someday compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store, though. It's more likely that Nokia is trying to lay the groundwork for the wireless carriers to do it themselves (who think they'll be able to make money selling wireless music downloads to their subscribers), in order to induce the carriers to buy more Nokia cellphones. Loudeye might not sit at the cool kid's table like Apple, but at least Nokia realizes that if the carriers don't get their cut they won't let anyone put iTunes (or any other music download software) on the handsets they're offering to their subscribers.