O2 bangs the drum for data

Mobile operator O2 plans to generate a quarter of its revenues from data services by the end of 2004, with music, video and games driving much of the traffic.

While the telco's research showed that email is the most in-demand data application for mobiles, O2 was more comfortable discussing the appeal of consumer, rather than business, data services.

The company claimed that it now has over 500,000 GPRS users, and that CD-quality music, "convincing" video and Java-based games will drive data revenues.

"Our triallists have been very enthusiastic about the concept of music-over-mobile," said Leslie Golding, head of music at O2. "We are looking to launch a commercial music-over-mobile service later this year."

The company's trial saw users download music to O2's own music player, complete with digital rights management software, over its GPRS network.

Music publishers BMG, Universal, Sony and Warner Music all took part, and the final service is expected to feature pre-release tracks priced at £1.50 to £2 each. Users will able to store up to 100 tracks on a 64MB memory card.

O2 said that it has sold 500,000 Java games at £1.50 to £5 each to 340,000 unique visitors to its dedicated Games Arcade website. Some 180,000 subscribers send an average of five multi-media messages each.

A recent trial allowing users to record and send 10-second video clips had also proved popular, it said.

The operator was less bullish on the prospects of the mobile office, and suggested that the mobile enterprise would be an important market in the future, if rather niche at present.

O2 also claimed that it has sold 27,000 Blackberry devices in the UK, Germany and Ireland up to May, which it said accounted for two-thirds of device-maker RIM's entire European user base.

RIM has sold just over 600,000 Blackberrys worldwide to May, according to O2.

The telco said it had sold 64,000 units of its PDA/phone hybrid, the xda, in the UK, Ireland and Germany.

O2 will launch xda II, a tri-band device with a 65,000-colour screen running Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, before Christmas.