Spotify launches on mobile phones

Music streaming service Spotify has expanded its service to mobiles.

Phones using Google's mobile operating system Android, and iPhone users, can access the firm's four million tracks.

The application will also allow users to save more than 3,000 songs to play while offline.

However, unlike the free streaming service for computers, mobile users will have to pay a subscription charge to download and save music.

The iPhone application service was approved at the end of August; it had been submitted to Apple in July.

Although the application will be free to download, it will require the user to have a premium Spotify subscription, which costs £10.

The Swedish music streaming service is looked on as a rival to Apple's iTunes store because of its comprehensive, free library of millions of songs.

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Apple currently dominates the digital music market, which led many to speculate that the app may not be approved.

Credibility

However, many in the music industry regard Spotify as an alternative, and a credible business model for an industry which has had difficulty adapting to the online world.

It is thought that one of the reasons Spotify was so keen to break into the mobile market was the requirement that users pay a subscription charge.

Only about one person in 50 currently pays a subscription, with the rest using the firm's free streaming services.

Spotify, which launched in 2008, now has more than two million users in the UK, and more than six million across Europe.

It has not yet launched in the United States, but says it intends to do so by the end of the year.

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