2005 - the year of the Music Phone

Last year was the year of the camera phone, this will be the year of the music phone, with phone companies scrambling to develop phones that can play MP3 files, and make distribution deals with record companies and online music retailers.

In many ways it will be easier to develop music phones than camera phones, since phones are already set-up to record and play back sound. There are still some hurdles to overcome with storage space and battery life, but Nokia's N91 has a 4GB microdrive and some of the newer phones will take flash cards so these problems will eventually be solved, especially with the type of commercial pressure expected from consumers.

The telco's love the idea that users will be downloading and swapping large music files - they are looking for ways to increase consumer's data transfer rates, and ways to improve the uptake of their new high-speed 3G services.

Consumers prefer to carry as few devices as possible, so even Apple's iPod could face a threat as mobile phones start replicating the functionality of the popular MP3 player. Apple are hedging their bets by working with Motorola to produce the iPod phone, but one can't help wonder whether this is a bit of a lost cause.

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