KDDI Corp, Japan's number two mobile operator, announced plans Monday to offer a Walkman phone with music player developed jointly with Sony Ericsson as competition heats up in the sector.
Sony Ericsson and KDDI plan to launch in late June the Walkman phone, which will sell for about 20,000 yen (180 dollars) and be capable of storing up to 630 songs and playing music for 30 hours on a single charge.
Users will be able to download songs directly via the Internet through KDDI's site and also transfer music from other media such as compact discs using their personal computer.
Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp and Swedish telecom giant Ericsson, first launched Walkman phones in Europe in August 2005 but has not yet brought one to the Japanese market.
Unlike previous mobile phones in Japan where the music player function was an extra, the Walkman model is specifically designed to be a music mobile phone, said Hirokazu Ishizuka, director of sales at Sony Ericsson.
"After clearing the hurdle of being able to play music for 30 hours non-stop (on a single charge), the phone is worthy of the Walkman brand," he told a press conference held to announce the planned launch.
KDDI users already download lots of music to their cellphones, particularly compared with Europeans who mainly transfer songs via computers, creating a favourable environment for the first Walkman phone in Japan, he said.
"We would like to take a strong lead in the Japanese market for music phones. In the global market Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones will become the major driving force" of the phone maker's sales growth, he said.
Mobile operators are stepping up efforts to attract new customers and maintain existing ones before a new rule goes into effect in November allowing users to keep the same phone number if they switch carriers.
In order to compete in a saturated market, cellphone service providers are offering more non-voice related features.
Japanese Internet and telecom firm Softbank Corp is reportedly in talks with Apple Computer Inc to develop an iPod phone.
Japan's top mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, said, earlier this month it would start a next-generation service letting phone users download music videos.