Three is following Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) by adding the MusicStation unlimited music download service to handsets in Hong Kong. The music shopfront and library software service, unveiled at 3GSM by Britain’s Omnifone, is an all-you-can-eat offering allowing customers to download as many tracks as they like for a small weekly fee. In Hong Kong, where the software will be available in Chinese as well as English, the service will cost HK $12 a week (around US $1.55); tracks are available from all four majors as well as a range of indies and are billed via the network minus data charges.
Omnifone is touting this as the largest download repertoire available in Hong Kong and a beachhead to the Acia-Pacific market, with high 3G penetration. Vodafone’s MusicStation offering costs £1.99 ($4) a week though the cost is waived for consumers on tariffs over £40. Omnifone got a similar deal with Telenor in Sweden earlier this year and now says it’s working on 27 other operator deals in 40 countries. It’s even got Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in its sights. From an emailed release: “We believe this announcement is significant, in that Apple is not expected to bring the iPhone to Asia until 2008.”